The Search for Chief
by HaloHappy
Summary: This is my recollection of what happens after Halo 3 of the remaining Spartans searching for our hero. I do not own anything about Halo besides three characters in the story. *Spoilers to the game and books.*
1. Finally Over

**1500 HOURS, APRIL 5, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL **_**CORRUPT HEART**_** \ EXITING SLIPSPACE ON THE EDGES OF EARTH**

It was over, all of it, finally over. The toll the war had taken on him and his fellow Spartans was hell, but that's what they were made for, defying the odds. He stood on the observation deck of the ship he had captured with his fellow Spartan and the closest person to him, 037-Kate. Their MJOLNIR armor was on, save for their helmets which they held in their arms.

The past week they had been scouring systems for the remainder of their mighty Spartan race, with luck. Most of the survivors of Reach were in the Cryo bay, frozen in their armor. Those lucky few were Fred, Linda, Will, and James. James was almost dead when they found him floating in space many months ago near Reach. They had found him with only a minute of air left to go in his suit, and he had been fighting the Covenant again ever since.

Fred was Red leader on Reach, he tried his best to get his men off of Reach alive, but even his efforts weren't enough to save all of them. He managed to make it off the planet only because John had saved his ass in a captured dropship, and even then they were assisted by some weird crystal. He had blamed himself for the failure, and hasn't let it go ever since.

Will was yet another Reach survivor, having been with Fred underground when he was saved. He has shown the fight left within him countless times since his being saved.

Last of the Reach survivors was Linda, who technically never survived when you think about it. She had been killed in a docking bay in orbit around Reach, was frozen in a Cryo pod, and then brought back from the dead by Dr. Halsey. She was a vigilant sniper, and his rival. They had been competing as the top sniper of the Spartans countless times, and she had upstaged him every time.

"I can't believe we're finally finished." Kate said as she gave a sigh of relief. "How do you think they'll welcome us Sean?"

"Hmm, probably the way they always greet people who prove their worth, a salute, pat on the back, and another medal. None of it makes up for what we lost." He said as he hung his head in grief. Kate wrapped her arm around him as a tiny hologram in the image of a red Spartan appeared in front of them. "ETA to Earth in ten minutes you two."

"Thanks Rick." Sean said miserably as this was the worst thing that could've happened now. The AI before them was one created from the mind of Sean's best friend after he died in battle, a fellow Spartan. He had repaired an AI core from near destruction so that Dr. Halsey could create him, all in the sake of preserving his memory, but now it just reminded him of all the things he had lost because of this war.

"Can you thaw everyone out of their tubes please?" Kate asked him as she brought up camera feed to the Cryo bay.

"Already have Kate." Rick replied somewhat happily for an AI as on the feed all of the Spartan's tubes opened up as they all stepped out and onto the deck. "Rise and shine you guys."

"Oh c'mon, couldn't have given us a few more minutes?" Fred replied jokingly.

"No, now get yourselves ready and meet us on the bridge in five, that's an order." Kate said back kindly yet assertively.

"Yes ma'am." Fred said as the feed turned off. There were just two others who had survived Reach, yet no one had a clue what had happened to them, John and Kelly. They had heard scarce about John, only hearing of him by his accolades and feats in the war. Kelly on the other hand, she vanished with Dr. Halsey and was never heard from again. He missed them both.


	2. Bad News

1520 HOURS, APRIL 5, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL _CORRUPT HEART_ \ ETA 4 MINUTES TO EARTH

On the bridge of the _Corrupt Heart_, all six of the Spartans looked through the view screen as Earth came into view. Rick then popped up from his pedestal again, "Establishing communications with station _Cairo_ now." He announced. An angry looking man appeared on screen, and looked like he was about to have a heart attack when he saw them. "WHAT THE HELL?! WHAT ARE YOU FREAKS DOING STILL ALIVE?!" Colonel Ackerson screamed at them so that his face was red and veins were showing. "Ackerson, what are you screaming about now?" A voice was heard from offscreen. "Ugh, erm, nothing sir, nothing."

They all then saw an arm push him aside and were greeted by a familiar face as everyone immediately saluted. "Well, I'll be damned." He said with a smirk on his face. It was Lord Hood, the head of naval defenses for Earth, and the one calling the shots during the war. "So, who do I have the honor of seeing today?" He asked them.

"Spartans Fred, Will, James, Linda, Kate, and Sean sir." Rick replied. "We are aboard a Covenant captured ship, _Corrupt Heart_, and we're requesting permission to dock in the station, sir."

"We'll roll out the red carpet for you Spartans, you've earned it." Hood told them as Sean clenched his teeth inside of his helmet: more worthless accolades, that was all that it was. Rick piloted the ship and docked it in bay 7, the closest one to the main control center. All the Spartans looked at each other, and took in a deep breath as they exited the ship, only to see the barrels of assault and battle rifles staring them down. The Spartans brought out their weapons and took aim. "Ok, what the hell is going on here?" Fred demanded.

"Relax Spartans." They heard Hood tell them as he stepped forward in the center of the semi-circle of marines. "This is just a standard procedure to make sure you don't have any stowaways. "That's very unlikely." Rick's voice said over Sean's speakers. "I've scanned that ship a hundred times, there's nobody in there that shouldn't be."

"He's right sir." Kate told them as everyone lowered their weapons. "Sean and I have been using that ship ever since Reach, the only thing that's on there are Engineers to help maintain the ship."

"Even so, doesn't hurt to be safe." Hood told them as he motioned for the marines to enter the craft. "Besides, we have much to discuss, follow me." He instructed as the Spartan's followed them. "I take it you all have enjoyed the R&R since the war's end?" He asked as everyone remained silent. "I see."

They continued on until they arrived at a small room with a large table and many seats surrounding it. "Please, sit." He told them as he sat at one of the ends. The Spartans simply stood behind the seats near him. "Or stand, who am I to tell you what to do? Anyhow, I supposed neither of you have a clue how this thing ended do you?" He asked to which each of the Spartans shook their heads. "Very well then, it was Master Chief, Sierra 117, who ended this war. He and an elite known as the Arbiter destroyed the Gravemind, a whole lot of flood, and the Prophet of Truth." Upon hearing the mention of their leader the Spartans stood straighter, if that was at all possible. "Now just what happened to him, I have no clue, he's presumed dead."

"Spartans never die sir." Will told him. "They're just missing in action."

"Yea, who's to say he's not still out there waiting to be found?" Sean added.

Hood simply smiled and shook his head. "I'd like to share your enthusiasm everyone, but I don't see how it's possible. But I suppose we'll talk more about what you're going to do about it later; right now there is more important business to attend to. The Covenant may be disorganized, but they still represent a viable threat if they gain a leader. I know you guys have fought long and hard for peace, and we almost have that, but can I ask you for a final favor?"

"Name it sir, we're ready for anything." Kate said enthusiastically as everyone nodded.

"Good, I want you guys to find the higher ups in the Covenant army that survived and kill them. If all that remains are grunts and jackals than we have no need to worry, they hardly know left from right. The brutes are where the problem lies, they're intimidation tactics and strength would be enough to keep the Covenant together, and we need to stop them."

"We know sir, we'll get the job done and stop this once and for all." James reassured him.

"I knew I could trust you all." He said as a life-size brute popped up at the other end of the table via a hologram projector. "This, is your main target. A brute by the name of Brutus."

"Gee, what an original name there." Sean joked.

"This is no laughing matter soldier, he represents a massive threat, and he's even organized a few guerilla attacks in the past week." He paused and let this sink in a bit before he added, "Even glassed half a planet." This got the Spartan's blood pumping as each of them instantly volunteered for the mission. "Nice to know you're still willing for the job. Now, seeing as how I'm not going to be able to stop you guys from looking for the Chief, so I'll make that a Secondary objective." He said as the projection changed to show an elite.

"This, is the Arbiter, he's the only person who knows Chief's last coordinates." He told them as a planet appeared next to his projection. "He now resides on the elite home world. When you get the chance, head there for the info you need. Now Spartans, you have your mission, snap to it. There are armor modifications for your suits in the armory, I want you to head there, modify your armor to fit your needs, and report to bay 7 in no more than ten, dismissed." He stood up and saluted them as they each filed out, except for Sean. "Question Spartan?"

"I don't suppose anyone ever found his body did they?" He asked in a grim voice.

"Well no, we actually haven't-" Hood began before being interrupted.

"THEN HOW CAN YOU SAY HE'S DEAD?!" Sean shouted at him in anger. "John was the greatest soldier in that war, he saved all of humanity, so how can you think that a man like him could just die like that?"

"I understand your pain soldier, I've lost many friends in my military career as well. And no, I don't truly believe that someone like him could just die like that, but I don't possibly see how he could survive out there by himself. All I can say to you is this," he said as he placed his hand on the Spartan's armored shoulder, "end this for him so we can all live out the rest of our lives, it's what he would've wanted."

"……..You're right sir…….I'm sorry for my outburst." Sean said as his gaze meat the floor.

"No need, if you don't get it out now you'll only be hurting yourself. Now take all this pent up anger, and direct it towards those Covenant bastards." And with that, Sean left the room, removing his helmet as he was greeted by Kate, who was also without her helmet. "I take it you heard all that?"

"Every word." She told him as she gave placed her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "He's out there, just keep thinking of him, and we'll find him."

"Thank you." He whispered to her as they shared a kiss.

1548 HOURS, APRIL 5, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD ORBITAL STATION _CAIRO_ IN STATIONARY ORBIT ABOVE EGYPT \ BAY 7 ARMORY

The doors parted as Kate and Sean stepped into the armory and found their teammates hard at work sorting out the spare parts as Linda waved her arm in the air to get everyone's attention. "Hey guys, I found a note at the bottom of this crate."

"Who's it from?" Will asked intrigued.

"Dr. Halsey." She said happily as everyone's interest was captured, all of them wanting to hear what the note said. "It says: 'Dear Spartans, I am so very proud of you all and what you've done for the UNSC. I made these parts as a reward for all of your hard work. Please, don't worry about me or Kelly, we're both fine and are almost done tying up the loose ends of our mission. I hope to see you all very soon. Signed, Dr. Halsey.'"

"Well, nice to know she still cares about us." Fred said as he pulled out the final piece from the crates.

"So, what do we have here?" Kate asked as she looked over the table of parts.

"A load of goodies to try out." James said in a happy tone. "There are the basic upgrades, which increase our running speed and jumping height, some to better steady our aim, and finally increase our strength."

"But," Will began, "there are ones she tailored specifically to our specialties." He said as he got out some smaller crates with each of their names on it. Sean took his in hand, it was half the size of the other crates, but that meant that they goodies in here were more important. He opened it up, and was immediately confused. "It's a helmet?" He said aloud. A quick check confirmed that everyone else had a helmet in theirs as well, but none were alike.

He looked at the reflective surface of its visor as it stared back at him. It had three points sticking out from its crown, with what looked like a mask where the mouth of it was. 'This some sort of ninja armor?' He thought to himself as he found a matching chest and back panel in the crate as well. He thought everything was out, but a weird green clothe was at the bottom. Intrigued, Sean reached in and pulled it up to find a sheathe at the bottom. His name was inscribed on it, and the handle of what looked like a sword inside of it and read the classification card at the bottom. "Anyone know what the hell Hayabusa is?"

"Not a clue. I've never heard of Recon either." Fred said as he picked up his helmet and read his card.

"Looks like she's been busy while she was away." Will remarked as he pulled out his helmet as it had two small visors and looked like it had a breathing apparatus on it. "So, this is built specifically for resistance to pressure huh? Looks like she remembers my love for explosives."

"Get a room Will." Linda joked as she showed her helmet, which had a top shaped like a rain drop, a small gap with the visor, and a lower point beneath the gap.

James' helmet had a T shaped visor and a black strip along the top of it with another strip running down the top of the visor. Kate's was a helmet featuring a bug-eye like visor and an antenna on it and the back piece. "Well, all I can say is, this is going to be fun." She said as she slipped it on and a new HUD came up before her. It made everything clearer and highlighted her teammates with a blue outline. "This is going to take some getting used to."

"I certainly won't mind." Sean remarked as he pulled the sword out of it's sheathe. Though it wasn't a sword, it turned out to be a katana.

"A sword? Really? What can that thing do that a gun can't?" Fred asked as he criticized the archaic weapon.

"It's not the weapon that counts, but the person using it." Sean told him as he attached the sheathe to the armor and swapped out the old stuff for his new ones. 'Feels better already.' He thought as he slipped his new helmet on. Everyone switched to their new armor and everyone was pleased with the results as they got used to the new gadgets. Now that they opened up their presents, they started rummaging through the weapons lockers and picked up their personal favorites. For Sean, the battle rifle and his Covenant carbine he kept stored here, partly because the enemy would use it, and mostly because as the leading Covenant weapons expert he favored their weapons occasionally. Kate chose the plasma rifle and battle rifle, seeing as how both were great against brutes and other infantry. Linda chose her normal S2 sniper rifle that she had customized to her liking, and an MA5B assault rifle. James and Will chose both the battle rifle and assault rifle, keeping it simple. Finally, Fred chose the shotgun and battle rifle, a good mid-range close-range combo.

Along with their personal choices, each took an M6B pistol with a scope and a combat knife, including a field med kit. Satisfied that they were ready, they all then went for the hangar and were ready to go.


	3. The Defense of a Race

**2215 HOURS, APRIL 6, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL _CORRUPT HEART_ \ EN ROUTE TO COVENANT HOME WORLD VIA SLIPSPACE**

There he knelt in the hangar of _Corrupt Heart_, working on what he considered his best work of art yet, when a pair of gloved hands covered his eyes. "Guess who." He heard a feminine voice say from behind.

"No offense Kate, but I'm doing something really crucial now, and I can't be-" He tried to tell her but was cut off as a small short circuit sent both of them flying back, his head resting against her stomach as he looked up at her. "See?"

"Oops, sorry Sean, just that I haven't heard from you in a while and I thought I'd check on you."

"Well, I'm working on Project UY at the moment."

"Up Yours? Really?"

"Rick told you didn't he?" Project UY, a.k.a. Up Yours, was Sean's efforts to convert plasma grenade technology into a bomb/EMP device to be used in space combat to neutralize threats and planet side to eliminate air support. He had hit some walls, but figured ways around them.

"Any reason you called it that?"

"What? It's my way of saying 'Up yours' to the enemy, and good ol'fashioned EMP bomb."

"Whatever you say dear." She said as she gave him a little kiss on the cheek. "Isn't ONI trying to do what you are?"

"Those jackasses?" He asked as he stood up and fixed what caused the short circuit.

"Still holding the grudge?" She asked. The grudge she was talking about was that ONI had taken Sean halfway through the Halo Wars for a special experiment they had concocted. Needless to say, he didn't enjoy it one bit. On top of that, it turned into a complete failure and a waste of time and money. The project tried to integrate the Spartan's skills into an exoskeleton that normal humans could wear free of harm. It failed in a fireball when the skeleton exploded while trying to keep up with him. There was no one in it thankfully, but the explosion sent Sean into a 4 month coma.

"Grudge? Hell, I'd like to consider it a vendetta. The only ONI personnel I have ever liked was the doctor. It took me from where I was needed, the war, and because of those idiots, Rick died during my coma." He said as he slammed the device with his wrench and it pulsed to life. "EUREKA!!"

"Congrats Einstein, now let's-"

"WARNING!! WARNING!! ALPHA LEVERL TRANSMISSION INTERCEPTED!! WARNING!!" They heard Rick shout over the intercom. Both of them donned their helmets and rushed to the bridge as Rick's hologram had symbols frantically scrolling along his body. "'Bout time you lovebirds showed up." Fred scolded them.

"Save it." Linda told him. "This is important."

"So Rick, who's this from?" James asked him.

Rick turned to face them as the symbols halted on him. "It's the Arbiter."

**2220 HOURS, APRIL 6, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ELITE HOMEWORLD'S CAPITAL CITY \ CHAMBER ROOM**

There the Arbiter sat, taking the leader's chair at the council table as elites were running around here and there with too much to do in so little time. "So," he began, "what's our situation?"

"We regret to inform you your Excellency that Brutus' Loyalist armada has appeared from slipspace and shall be here in mere units." His advisor told him.

"I see. Do we have any responses from the humans about our transmission yet?"

"Sadly, no." He replied as his head drooped down. The Arbiter closed his eyes, sat back, and gave the elite equivalent of a deep sigh. Just then, the image of a red Spartan appeared on the pedestal in the middle of the table. "This is UNSC warfare AI Rick reporting from _Corrupt Heart_, we got your signal."

The Arbiter leaned forward in his seat and stared at what he believes to be the AI's eyes. "So, how far are you approximately and how many do you bring?"

"We are about five units from your planet; we are moving at best speed now through slipspace. No need to worry, we're bringing the best the UNSC has to offer to this party." He replied.

"Good, if our estimations are correct there are a total of twenty ships, maybe more on the way."

"No need to worry, we'll be there before you know it." The AI reassured him as he faded away.

"Do we really have to ask the humans for help with this?" His Military advisor chimed in.

"This is merely regulation, but don't underestimate the humans, they can be great allies at the worst of times."

"Guess this is one of those times then." The Military head replied grimly.

**2221 HOURS, ARIL 6, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD COVENANT LOYALIST FLAGSHIP _DIVINE JUDGEMENT_ \ 2 MINUTES 'TIL PLANET ATMOSPHERE IS REACHED**

There Brutus stood, looking at the observation screen as the planet was in full view on the screen. 'Soon.' He thought to himself. 'Soon those traitors will pay for allowing the Prophets to fall, for the prophecy to be halted, especially the disgraced one.'

He then chose to address his crew at that time. "The universe shall know this day, the day the traitors' world was turned into nothing but a wasteland off glass." Everyone gave a cheer of approval as he smiled. "We shall all be known as heroes, you shall all be rewarded for your bravery and service today. Prepare to attack them, arm every weapon on this ship and send the same order to the entire fleet." He said as every weapon on all twenty ships glowed a brilliant red, so bright that you'd go blind just staring at it for a few seconds.

**2230 HOURS, APRIL 6, 2553 (MILITARY CALNEDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL _CORRUPT HEART_ \ EXITING SLIPSPACE NEAR ELITE HOMEWORLD**

The second the _Corrupt Heart_ came out of slipspace, the Spartans had to shield their eyes, as even they couldn't take the light shining from all the ships. "Well, looks like we got here just in time." Will remarked as he put his arm up to shield his visor.

"Oh great, now what do we do?" Sean asked as he froze up.

"Rick, initiate the cloaker and kill the power to everything but the essentials and what we need to keep you running." Fred ordered. He had the know-how to, "borrow", an ONI cruiser's stealth cloaking device to improve the chances of surviving for this ship. This device had saved this ship from destruction more times than Kate dared to bring up. Rick's hologram then vanished as the lights on the bridge went out and the ship gave vanished from sight. "This had better work."

Several intense minutes went by, as they waited to see if the Covenant fleet had seen them, which they thanked whatever force that was watching over them that they didn't. Instead the ships ignored them and unleashed a tidal wave of phantom dropships above the planet as they all converged on the surface.

"Let's get to the hangar guys, we're going down there and helping." Fred said as he walked towards the exit.

"Don't have to tell us twice." Kate said as they all filed out of the bridge and went towards the hangar. Their enhanced eyes allowed them to see in the darkness just fine, so they saw no need for flashlights. Once inside, they boarded a Phantom and got ready to leave the hangar. "Anyone know what that glowing blue thing was?" James asked as he sat down in one of the modified seats and strapped himself in.

"That'd be the new weapon I'm working on." Sean replied sitting down in the pilot's seat.

"What the heck does it do?"

"Just imagine it as a giant plasma grenade that doubles as an EMP."

"Nice, can't wait to see it." Fred said as he stood before everyone. "Alright Spartans, the elites need our help with this one, and we're going to give it to them. Take us in and try and head for that formation of phantoms. You know you're signals?"

Sean responded with a thumb up as he piloted the ship clear of the invisible hangar and headed in the direction of the swarm of phantoms.

**2234 HOURS, APRIL 6, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD COVENANT LOYALIST FLAGSHIP _DIVINE JUDGMENT_ \ COMMAND BRIDGE**

"Ugh, Excellency, you might want to see this." A grunt named Grota said from the navigation station.

"What is it now?" He asked as he walked towards him a bit irritated by his pestering. The grunt gestured to the screen as a lone phantom came from the left side of the planet and headed towards the landing party. "Hail them."

"Yes your Excellency." Grota replied as he typed in the necessary buttons for the signal. A few seconds later he got his response. "It appears that one of our ships accidentally came out on the other side of the planet."

Brutus growled in anger at the show of foolishness. "Very well then, tell them to fall into position and that if they make another mistake like that I will personally crush their skulls beneath my feet." The grunt did as he was told and sent the signal.

***

"Hehehe, stupid asses fell for it." Sean mused with delight that his plan worked.

"Alright, phase one is complete. Phase two will get underway as soon as we get on the ground. Kate, Linda, you're reds one and two. You're objective will be to find the Arbiter and back him up at the capitol. James, Will, you're greens one and two. I want you to cooperate with red team until you arrive at the capitol; there you will defend it and make sure it doesn't fall into enemy hands. However, if you get any word or hint that they're going to glass it, get the hell out. Sean and I are blues two and one. We'll be taking the fight to them and halt their ground advance any way we can."

"What about extraction?" Will asked, which Fred raised a hand to answer, but froze as he never thought of it.

"I got us covered." Kate said. "We'll set this thing down in a place off the beaten path and cloak it."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Linda said in approval. "Now, let's go kill some Covenant." She said as she slid a clip into her sniper rifle with an audible 'click'.


	4. Good Times and Bad Times

**2256 HOURS, APRIL 6, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ELITE HOMEWORLD \ LZ ALPHA**

Red and Green squads had already moved out, so now it was blue squads turn. "Be prepared for anything." Fred advised Sean.

"I know that, you don't have to tell me." He replied a tad annoyed. The two moved out as fast as they could, occasionally ducking behind cover anytime they heard something suspicious. The Covenant dropped off about two clicks away from them and five minutes before they had. The element of surprise was on their side though, as they sprinted from cover to cover and down a long stretch of clearing in the forest. "This doesn't feel right, too easy." Sean heard Fred say over the COM.

"I'm with you on that one, just means that we should move at twice the speed while being twice as cautious." Was his reply as he picked up the pace with Fred following suit. They had just paused inside of a small brush as they heard footsteps, the scream of banshee engines, and trees being brushed aside and destroyed by a rampaging wraith tank. 'Bout time.' Sean thought as Fred gave orders on the COM.

The plan was simple; they'd jump out as the wraith passed, take over its controls and turret, and then use it to kill everything else around them. The time had come; they jumped out and took every one of them by surprise. Fred leaped up on top of the wraith, pulled open its hatch, and dropped down with his shotgun in his hand. Sean on the other hand jumped up and kicked the brute in the turret squarely in the back of its head. This killed it instantly as the body flew out and landed on two startled jackals.

The ambush had happened so fast, so perfectly, that by the time the Covenant pointed their weapons at the tank, it was too late. Sean immediately mowed down the closer groups while a ball of energy surged over his head and took out a massive group of them. The banshee above had heard all the commotion, and circled down towards them. Fred stared at it through the view screen, waited for it to come in range, and fired. The shot was dead on, hitting the banshee on its nose and destroying it instantly as the shattered parts flew everywhere. "OK, let's go take care of some more." Fred said over the COM as the wraith hurried forward to meet the rest of the Covenant forces.

**2306 HOURS, APRIL 6, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ELITE HOMEWORLD \ APPROXIMATELY 1 ½ KILOMETERS FROM THE CAPITAL**

Red and Greed squad moved at as fast a pace as they could go and were making great time. As an added bonus, they hadn't hit a single group of Covenant yet.

The run ended about half an hour later as they made it to the outskirts of the capital……only to see a massive battle being fought. The elites had fortified the buildings with turrets and anti-air defenses while troops on the ground where busy holding back the advance as best they could. This was made all the more difficult by the dozen banshees circling over head and the three wraiths on the ground. They needed to act quickly.

Linda grabbed the sniper off of her back and aimed carefully as the other slipped to the side. Her targets were clear; the three brutes manning the tank turrets. Due to either the Covenant's arrogance, or an extreme amount of good chance, they had lined themselves up perfectly so that one shot would take them out. She steadied herself, her arms were motionless as she zoomed in and found her target.

A loud bang was heard, or would've been had it not been for all the plasma flying everywhere, as the 14.5mm bullet pierced each brute's helmet, went through the head, and came out the other end and continued on its way. Everyone was too busy fighting to notice the brutes fall forward and die, save for green squad and red one, who jumped out of the tree line before anyone would notice the dead soldiers, punched holes in the back of the wraiths and planted a plasma grenade in the hole as they rolled back into the cover offered by the forest and three loud explosions took place that startled the Covenant troops and decimated their artillery strength.

They all searched frantically from cover and were rewarded with nothing but return fire from the elites. A brute and group of grunts ran behind the tanks to search for the culprits of this attack, and the brute suffered for it as his head had a new hole in it and he fell to the ground dead. Before he had hit the ground however, four pistol rounds went off and took out the grunts.

With the element of surprise gone, Linda began to fire from her new position under some thick trees and bushes and was slowly picking off the brutes one by one. Once her first clip was expended, Kate rushed out from the forest with a plasma rifle in her hands as she began to fire at the jackals and grunts while three-burst shots came from behind her and assisted in her killing. With the success of their initial attack, the Spartans had dwindled the army down to a few brutes and jackals as the banshees were taken care of by their elite allies.

In an over confident manor, Kate mopped up the jackals ad left two brutes before. "I got them." She said over the COM before she rushed up to them. She waited 'til the last second possible as she primed a plasma grenade, thrusted it onto front brute's chest, and flipped over as the resulting explosion took it out. However, she had been too early on the triggering, which meant that her shields were flashing red from depletion as she turned towards the second brute. Time seemed to slow down then, as she could see it swinging a brute shot at her. She couldn't move in time, and put up her arms as she expected her recklessness to get her killed.

She stood there, one second, two seconds, three…..she wasn't dead? She instead opened her eyes as she saw twin beams of energy sticking out of the brute's stomach as they were removed and the brute fell to the ground dead. "Thanks, whoever you are." She said graciously at the floating energy sword before her.

"You're……alive?" She heard a voice say from where the sword was floating. The cloaked elite then seemed to appear out of nowhere, it was the Arbiter!! "Ah my friend, it is so good to see you again." He said as the sword was deactivated and attached to his thigh.

"Umm, sorry to burst your bubble Arbiter, but I'm not Master Chief." She enlightened the elite as the rest of her unit came out of hiding once they had made sure everything was clear.

"So, there were other survivors." He said as he placed his palm underneath his chin as he thought deeply about this. "So then, who do I have the honor of welcoming to my planet?"

"I'm Kate." She replied as she bowed before him.

"Name's Linda." She said putting her sniper rifle on her back.

"I'm James." He said as he slammed a fresh clip into his battle rifle.

"And I'm Will." He said with his back to them as his rifle swept the area, expecting something to jump out at them. "There are two others who were sent to halt the advance, but we've yet to get word from them."

"Alright then, let us move out an assist them in any way we can. I will not let them kill a brother of my friend." The Arbiter said as he got out his plasma rifle and led them all away.

**2315 HOURS, APRIL 6, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ELITE HOMEWROLD \ 5 CLICKS FROM LZ APLHA**

Ever since they took the tank, things had gotten worse for blue team; much, much worse. It started when they took a direct shot from behind, forcing them both out of the tank as it exploded mere seconds afterwards. The rest of the time was spent running for whatever cover they could find and trying their best to cope with the all the setbacks.

Now, they were busy shooting as they backed up, trying to just stay alive. Neither of them had seen it before they already fell in, but they backed up into a crater and tumbled head over heels for a moment before they righted themselves and barely dodged a wraith shot that hit where they were a second ago. They took cover behind a rock and saw more and more red dots appear on their motion tracker, all of which were thankfully in front of them….for now. They kept poking their heads over to get out a few shots on the advancing grunts and jackals as wraith fire hit everywhere around them, forming small craters in the ground.

"Rick, Rick come in, I'm requesting immediate air support." Sean said as he tried to reach _Corrupt Heart_. "Send a UY down her now and detonate it above so you don't kill us."

"PHANTOMS INBOUND!!" He heard Fred shout into his ears as five massive dots appeared on the motion tracker. Troops fell out of the sides as they touched down and attempted to take out the two humans. They then saw one of the back holes open up and knew what that meant: hunters, things were about to get a lot harder. It would take a few minutes for the bomb to arrive, and they both knew that they would be dead by then.

**2324 HOURS, APRIL 6, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL **_**CORRUPT HEART**_** \ COMMAND BRIDGE**

"_PHANTOMS INBOUND_!!" Was the last thing Rick heard as explosions and gunfire were heard over the COM and it went dead. He had slowly made his way near the drop point, and was now poised to fire of the UY. He knew that the cloaked ship would hide the bomb from sight, and the radar jamming system he was using would prevent them from detecting it, so he took the shot. He launched the bomb out of the cannon that had been fitted to the bottom of the ship.

The cannon had originally been built for MAC rounds, but desperate times called for desperate measures. The engineers on board had loaded the completed bomb into it through the tube that lead down to it, Rick had opened up the hole that allowed the bomb to enter, and fired it on a remote detonation. He waited for the right moment to trigger it, and awaited the command.

A few tenseful minutes passed by as he heard nothing, and then he heard a desperate scream over the COM. "_GOD DAMN IT TRIGGER THE FRICKING BOMB RICK!!_" Sean shouted as Rick heard what sounded like a plasma blast hit him and heard Fred dragging him across the ground. So Rick sent out the signal as ordered, and saw a small blue explosion from orbit as it went off.


	5. Becoming a POW

**2330 HOURS, APRIL 6, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ELITE HOMEWORLD \ 6 CLICKS FROM LZ ALPHA**

It was just one thing after another with this day. The hunters were a massive pain in the ass, as they had gotten out in front and lowered their shields. Jackals had joined them as well, and created a solid wall of shields as they slowly made their way down the slope. The phantoms had left for the most part, leaving two left to fire down on them with plasma fire. Brutes behind the phalanx all hurled spike grenades into the air in a rain of death as they all landed around the two unfortunate soldiers. They both braced themselves against the wall as the grenades went off all around them. Spikes flew here, there, pretty much anywhere you could think as one stray had caught Sean's flaring shields off guard and nailed him in the shoulder where his armor wasn't.

He clutched it in pain and allowed a small scream of pain before he came back up and lobbed a spike of his own up and over the phalanx. Lady luck must've been watching the throw, as it landed directly on a brute's nose. The grenade went off as he panicked and spikes hit the unprotected side of the wall of shields, causing holes to form in the formation. Fred took this opportunity to lob a plasma grenade in the biggest hole their and was rewarded with five energy shields vanishing in a flash of blue.

Enraged by the humans' show of determination, the hunters charged up their arm cannons and fired right at them. They both dove behind a rock to their right as plasma consumed the rock they had previously been hiding behind, disintegrating it into nothingness. Sean was still recovering when he saw more dots on his motion tracker that were behind him. 'Shit!!!' He shouted in his head. He got to one knee and tried the COM again. "GOD DAMN IT TRIGGER THE FRICKING BOMB NOW RICK!!" He screamed into his helmet as a charged plasma pistol shot discharged itself on his back and sent him to the ground.

"DAMN!" Fred shouted as he grabbed underneath of his arms and dragged him into one of the massive craters that multiple wraith plasma had formed. They had just made it in when a brilliant blue light shined in the sky and explosions could be heard.

***

He felt a ringing in his head as he stood up and looked out of the hole. He and Sean had lived, and he observed just how powerful that bomb was. The forest surrounding them had either been set on fire or turned into black sticks. A couple of phantoms lay on the ground, one where the Covenant advance had been, and another at the top of the slope. Banshees were scattered about; either on fire or completely destroyed.

He then looked down at the device that had saved them, a fried shield generator. He picked it up earlier and had been relieved that he kept it. It had shielded them from certain death and was now completely useless. He dragged Sean's unconscious body out of the crater and set him up against a rock and heard a low moan. "That's some bomb you made there." Fred said as he treated the wound his friend had suffered from the grenade.

"Don't remind me." Was his weak reply as he twitched at the feeling of biofoam filling up the gash. He was grateful for the compliment, but now wasn't the time. All he wanted to do now was relax and recover from all this, when he saw just what he didn't want to see: a red dot. "CONTACT!" He shouted as he got up fast and immediately fell to one knee again in pain as the plasma shot took its toll on him. Fred looked up at the crashed phantom that lied at the top of the slope, as a lone figure stood there. He instinctively reached for his battle rifle, and was horrified as he read the ammo counter. It read 00. The same applied for his shotgun.

The figure descended the slope slowly and approached them as they looked on. A two on one like this normally would go in the Spartan's favor, but judging by the armor it was obvious this brute was a chieftain, whose hammer meant trouble. Throw into the mix that one of them was badly injured while the other was out of ammo for his main weapons, and this wasn't going to be easy. He heard the brute laugh as he pulled the hammer off his back and stood before them. "So, you're the humans ruining my day?" He asked them. "I am Brutus, the leader of the Covenant loyalists, so I'll only say this once: stand down and get out of my way, or I'll tear you limb from limb."

"FAT CHANCE!!" Sean shouted as he pulled out the katana and charged the brute.

'Idiot, doesn't he know that's what he wants?' Fred thought to himself as he pulled out his combat knife and followed him. Brutus blocked the initial swing of the katana, and punched Sean right where the spike had hit, causing him to reel back while Fred jumped over him, landed behind the brute, and attempted to stab him in the neck. Brutus countered this by swinging the hammer behind him, forcing Fred to duck as Brutus spun around and kneed the Spartan in the face. This sent him flying backwards and caused the back of his head to slam into a rock. Another setback happened, as the base of Fred's neck, which wasn't protected by the helmet, slammed into a jagged part of the rock and sent a shockwave through his body as his vision faded to black.

Having recovered from the cheap shot earlier, Sean went back to work as he attacked Brutus with one swing after another. Brutus was ready for him, and blocked every one of them with the hammer's pole. Time and time again, swing after swing, Brutus blocked them all until he parried one and swung the hammer. The resulting shockwave the hammer caused when it hit Sean's hand which sent the katana flying out of Sean's hands as it lodged itself in the rock just mere centimeters from Fred's head. In an act of desperation, he surged forward and grabbed hold of the pole as it turned into a test of strength.

The hammer didn't budge an inch either way, as both the Spartan and the brute were evenly matched. Sean then saw a grin stretch across the brute's ugly mug, as the hammer was suddenly pulled from him, turning his momentum against him. He hung on as best he could, when the hammer suddenly snapped back, causing his left shoulder to pop out of its socket. He jumped back as he clutched his shoulder in pain as Brutus advanced on him. He instinctively grabbed his pistol from the holster and aimed it at the brute's head as it gave a slight chuckle, swung the hammer again, and sent it flying out of his hands and him to fall to the ground. He crawled backwards in a futile attempt to escape the brute, as his right arm was pinned to the ground by the brute's massive foot. He looked up in horror as the last thing he saw was a fist and then he fell unconscious.

"Nicely done." A voice said in the brute's head. "Now order everyone to fall back and take this one with you, we may need him for later."

"As you wish master." Brutus replied as he hefted the unconscious Spartan over his shoulder, gave the order, and left for his ship.

**2358 HOURS, APRIL 6, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDER) \ ELITE HOMEWORLD \ 6 CLICKS FROM LZ ALPHA**

All five of them; The Arbiter, Linda, James, Kate, and Will; ran at maximum speed when they couldn't reach either Fred of Sean on the COM and finally made it to the battle sight. "Whoa, did hell pop up or something?" James asked as they looked and saw bodies everywhere, along with crashed ships, demolished tanks, and all of them were on fire. They then saw something move in the shallow crater below as their helmets brought up its ID. They all rushed towards Fred as he got up weakly, rubbing the back of his head. "Are you OK?" Linda asked him with concern.

"A little shaken up, but I'll be alright." He replied as he removed his helmet and knelt down so someone could examine where he struck the rock. Will walked up behind him and examined the black bruise in the shape of a large circle. "Just a scratch, you should be fine."

"Where's Sean?" Kate asked as she removed a katana from the rock Fred had been leaning against.

"I…..I don't know." Fred said as the grief set in. "We were busy fighting Brutus when he gave me a knee to the face, and that's when I blacked out."

"I am sorry for your loss, but I do not believe he is dead." The Arbiter said as he tried to lift their spirits.

"What makes you say that?" Linda asked before she heard a beeping noise from her helmet and Rick broadcast to her helmet speakers.

"Everyone, I detected Sean's UNSC neural implants. He was taken off the surface five minutes ago by a phantom and taken aboard the flagship known as _Divine Judgment_. It is imperative that you all return to _Corrupt Heart_ on the double!"

"We got ya Rick, over and out." She said as the COM was turned off. "You heard the AI, let's go." She said as the Spartans began to head towards LZ Alpha.

"Wait!" The Arbiter shouted at them as he caught up with them. "I am going with you. Had it not been for my arrogance and lack of judgment this would have never happened. I will join you in your quest to find your lost brother."

"We appreciate the offer Arbiter," Kate began, "but your people-"

"My brethren will be fine without me for a short while. Besides, I was told earlier by your Hood commander of why you came here in the first place. I am not going to miss the rescue of my lost friend, now let us take our leave." He ordered as he ran ahead of them. The Spartans simply stared at each other, nodded, and took off after him.

**0010 HOURS, APRIL 7, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD COVENANT FLAGSHIP **_**DIVINE JUDGMENT**_** \ PRISON CHAMBER B-7**

He tasted his own blood, felt it trickle from his nose, felt his head ring from being out for so long, which confirmed that he was alive. But where was he? "Where am I?" He asked aloud.

"SILENCE!" He heard someone shout as a powerful hand smacked him across the face and his vision quickly cleared and he saw where he was. His helmet was off and lying on the floor in the corner, he could feel braces on his wrists, and that he was hunched over on what felt like a bench. "If you must know where you'll die, you are aboard _Divine Judgment_, the flagship of our leader." He then looked up to see the brute holding what looked like two small conductors.

"And what're th-"Sean tried to say as he felt a spike of electricity run through his body. He bit his lower lip and suppressed the pain as best he could, but even a Spartan had their limits, and after half an hour of this, and having the voltage turned up each time, his head finally drooped down as he breathed heavier than he had in his entire life and felt a lone tear drop run from his eyes.

"So, I've finally broken you." The brute said in triumph as he knelt down so he was eye level with the human. The response to this was Sean snapping his head up and head butting the brute. "INSOLENT LITTLE-"The brute said withdrawing as he held his nose in pain. "Just wait until my leader hears about this, and then he will be the one to deal with you." The brute then walked out and once the energy field trapping what was in the chamber was up, Sean felt the braces break off. He stretched his arm a bit as he spat out some blood onto the floor below, popped his left arm back into its socket, and got up to examine his helmet.

Every system in his armor was still working, and the helmet wasn't any different. However, there was still the problem of him being weaponless. No katana, no battle rifle, no nothing. But, there was a bright side to it; they hadn't found the hidden compartment he installed in his right leg, as a quick check confirmed that the handle was still there. 'Good.' He thought. 'I'm going to need that when I escape.' He sealed the compartment back up just as the brute from earlier returned, this time with Brutus in tow. "So human, I see you're still not willing to divulge the secrets I desire." He told Sean as they stared into each other's eyes. All the brute saw was a cold emptiness.

"I believe that you'll find your stay here much more enjoyable if you were to cooperate with us."

"I can take a lot more punishment pal. This is nothing compared to my training." He said as he wiped the blood off his face.

"So be it." Brutus replied as he left. "All things break eventually."

"This one is as strong mentally as he is physically." The voice said again. "It will be a while before he is broken completely."

"I understand master, as the humans say, this is just the tip of the iceberg."


	6. Uninvited Help

**1045 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ IN COVENANT HELD SPACE NEAR THE **_**DIVINE JUDGMENT**_** \ COMMAND BRIDGE**

"So, are you sure he's on there?" She asked her partner. She looked at her as a look of seriousness met her. "Alright, if you say so." The cloaked ship entered the hangar of the Covenant flagship undetected and landed inside despite the tight squeeze. The landing gear held the ship upright as the back hatch opened temporarily and a lone figure darted for a nearby shadow; phase one was complete.

**1050 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD COVENANT LOYALIST FLAGSHIP **_**DIVINE JUDGMENT**_** \ PRISON CHAMBER B-7**

The entire week he had been there, it was pure hell. Had it not been for his previous experiences, he would've caved by day two, but he stood steadfast. However stable his mentality was, his physical status was absolutely atrocious. He could hardly stand on his own, he felt light-headed from blood loss over the course of the torture, and above all he was weakened severely. They had beaten him, electrocuted him, pushed him to within an inch of his life, and yet he came back from it all. There was however one silver lining to this.

He had befriended a young grunt named Shola, and he had taught the Spartan a vast amount of the covenant language, both in speech and writing. At first the grunt had been scared to death when he was first shoved in there as a prank, and thought for sure the human would have taken out his aggression on him, but was surprised when instead of a fist, he was offered a hand. Shola was the one thing that kept the human's hopes up that he'd be rescued from this place, and he took comfort in the fact that the grunt wasn't a loyalist after all, just a poor grunt who was forced to become one.

He was currently visiting Sean while two brutes stood guard outside, both having a brute shot and red plasma rifle in tow. "So, what was it this time?" Shola asked him in curiosity.

Sean responded by spitting a decent wad of blood into the corner and drawing in a deep breath. "Beating me 'til blood came out my nose, a quick electrocution session, and to wrap it all up a punch to the face." He said as he indicated his black eye.

"Harsh. But cheer up, I'm sure you'll be freed soon." The grunt said trying to lift the human's spirits. Sean simply turned his head in a mix of shame and hopelessness. This was all his fault. Had he not let his anger get the best of him, he wouldn't be in this mess. "That'd be the day." He said as he picked up his helmet and stared into the visor, seeing Kate's face smile back at him. "I miss her so much."

Concerned with his depressed state, the grunt walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. The human smiled as he looked up. "Well I hope your happy Shola." He said putting the helmet aside. "I don't think I'll ever be able to kill another one of you guys again." The grunt took satisfaction with the sincerity of his words, and was about to say something when they heard someone shout 'GET IT OFF!' from the corridor outside. Both the human and alien looked just in time to see one of the brutes be consumed by a blue fire ball. A plasma grenade? But who threw that?

The second brute got out his brute shot and aimed it down the corridor. "Show yourself!!" He shouted. What happened next could only be described as the fastest thing you'd ever see. A blur of motion happened as something ran out, gave a bunch of quick and precise punches to the brute before grabbing the brute shot and using the blade on it to slit the alien's throat. Sean quickly got to his feet and felt warm inside as he recognized the green of Spartan armor while Shola backed up and took shelter behind the armored leg. "Guess I owe her five bucks." The Spartan standing before them joked. Sean instantly recognized the cheery voice and associated it with the intense speed, smiling as he recognized her. "Kelly."

**1105 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL **_**CORRUPT HEART**_** \ COMMAND BRIDGE**

"DAMN IT!!" Kate shouted as she pounded her gloved fist on the panel in front of her, causing Rick's hologram to pop up.

"You do know AI can feel pain too correct?" He asked her as he pointed to her fist.

"Sorry, I'm just irritated that every time we get close to them, they jump again."

"Just be glad they haven't disabled his neural implants." Rick inquired. "Or else we wouldn't be able to have tracked them down this far." Kate took little comfort in the words of the AI as she grabbed the katana beside her and felt tears begin to form. "You've got to be kidding me, you're still up?!" She heard a voice behind her yell. She turned to see Linda standing there. "I thought Fred ordered you to sleep."

"I can't, not when I know Sean's out there being held captive by those….freaks!" She shouted as her grip tightened on the handle of the blade.

"How do you think I feel about John?" Linda asked as Kate's grip loosened and she had a look of shock on her face. "I nearly cried when I heard Hood tell us he was dead, but I didn't. I persevered because I knew there was hope for him." She said walking up to her fellow Spartan and placing her hand on her shoulder. "He'd want you to carry on, to not give up hope, to find him. That's what I believe they both want us to do, and it's why I'm not crying, and instead using that energy to find them."

"This is why I'm not sleeping. I want to get them both back fast." Kate responded as she turned back to the controls and yawned.

"No, it's why you SHOULD get some sleep, you need rest, and staying up seventy-two-hours straight isn't getting them back any faster." She said pulling her from the controls and escorting her to the door. "Get some sleep, you're going to need it."

"Fine, but if anything happens-"

"I know, I'll alert you if anything comes up." Linda reassured her.

**1105 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD COVENANT LOYALIST FLAGSHIP **_**DIVINE JUDGMENT**_** \ PRISON CHAMBER B-7**

"We need to go, now." Kelly told Sean as she deactivated the energy field and urged him on. She then spotted the grunt behind him and aimed her assault rifle.

"Stand down!" Sean shouted as he forced her rifle's barrel to the ground. "You're going to need your ammo for later, and he hasn't shown any hostility to you." Sean said kneeling down and fidgeting with his right leg.

"He's your friend isn't he?" She asked as she sighed. "Well, no matter, grab a rifle and let's go."

"Won't need it." Sean said as the compartment in his leg opened up and he grabbed a handle and pulled it out. He then pressed a button as the energy sword came to life and the compartment sealed up again. "Now let's go." He said attaching a plasma rifle to his leg.

***

The two Spartans ran frantically through the winding twist and turns of the flagship, having a firefight here and there, nothing slowed them down until they approached the hangar again. A squad of brutes jumped out and surrounded them, forcing them to retreat in between ruts in the bulkhead. Kelly switched to her shotgun and popped out of cover, blasting two of them away with two quick bursts. The remaining four brought out maulers as a countermeasure and every time she tried to fire again, they shot at her and forced her to retreat, not getting in a single shot. Sean groggily grabbed his plasma rifle with his free hand and decided to charge the group of three. He waited for the next try by Kelly and then he rushed out towards them. One of them tried to fire again but was enraged to find his clip empty, both halves of him wished he hadn't fired the last shot as they fell to the ground in opposite directions. Sean then hosed the next one in the face with plasma fire. The third aimed right at his head and missed the shot as he flipped up and over the third and swung the energy sword, leaving a clean slice straight through its neck as both corpses fell to the ground simultaneously.

Using Sean as a distraction, Kelly popped out again to fire at the remaining brute and was annoyed to find it hiding in a bubble shield. She then noticed it reaching for its belt and charged into the bubble as she blew a dinner plate-sized hole in the brute's stomach. "HEADS UP!" She heard Sean shout as she looked to her right just in time to see a brute take a plasma bolt to the face and fall forward into the shield; a primed spike grenade stuck to its hand. Kelly dove out of the bubble as it contained the blast and collapsed. "We're running out of time!!" She shouted at him as they ran into the hangar and towards the back. "Now what? There's nothing around here." Sean observed as they were out in the open.

"That's what you think." Kelly told him as she knocked on thin air and a thud was heard. She stepped back as a bay door dropped to the ground and the inside of a ship showed. He was about to say something, when a twin bolts of thin energy struck him in the same shoulder that had taken so much abuse in the week. Kelly noticed that his vitals showed the blast of pain had been sufficient enough to cause him to slip into unconsciousness as she killed the jackal responsible for that, and dragged his body inside. The door lifted up as Kelly shouted 'Clear!' and the invisible ship lifted off and left the hangar.

**1120 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL **_**CORRUPT HEART**_** \ COMMAND BRIDGE**

"He's entered slipspace." Rick told her as he showed a dot moving on the radar.

"What? Why with the sudden jump?" Linda asked the AI as she saw Will come onto the bridge with James behind him. "What's all the commotion?" Will asked as he stretched his arms.

"Looks like they jumped again." James said as the front view screen turned to normal upon the ship's exit from slipspace to find _Divine Judgment_ still floating there. "Or not."

"What? I thought you said he entered slipspace." Linda consulted with the AI. "Are you losing your touch?"

"Don't make me laugh Linda." Rick responded in a tone that would suggest that was impossible. "I don't know what ship he's on, but whatever it is has a Shaw-Fujikawa slipspace drive on it. In other words UNSC property."

"The hell is a UNSC ship doing near a Covenant cruiser by itself?" Will asked massively confused.

"I'll go wake Fred up." James said rushing out of the bridge.

"What does this mean?" Linda asked.

"It means your brother has been rescued." The Arbiter said as he stepped out of the shadows.

"Do us a favor will ya, stop sneaking around with your cloaking device on already." Will said a bit annoyed by him sneaking up on them.

"My apologies, a force of a habit. Though I was picking up faint traces of one of your intelligence ships earlier. It appeared briefly before it vanished from the radar."

"Oh great, now ONI is getting into the mix." Linda said sarcastically.

"Well, not ONI specifically." Rick replied to back up the Arbiter's claim.

"And how's that?" She asked approaching the hologram.

**1600 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ LOCATION UNKOWN \ ONI INTELLIGENCE SHIP **_**VENUS**_

"Ow, what happened?" Sean asked as he sat up on what he felt was a bed. He held his head and looked around the room as he heard what sounded like giggling. He looked everywhere to find the source and looked to his right as Kelly materialized in front of him. "AH!" He yelled in surprise as he crashed to the ground.

"Oops, sorry, didn't mean to startle you that much." Kelly said helping him up. "You're sure in sorry shape, just what happened to you on that ship?" She asked him as his arm wrapped around her neck for support.

"Put me through hell." He replied weakly as he felt his head spinning. He then felt Kelly walk him towards the exit and looked up at her helmetless face. "Where are we going?"

"To the command bridge, there's someone you need to meet." She told him as she urged him along. He groggily dragged his feet and collapsed a few times as the torture finally caught up with him. "Geez, when you said hell you weren't kidding." She eventually got him to the bridge as a lone person sat in the command chair. "He's up."

"Good." The person said as she rotated the chair around to face him. Sean nearly fainted at the sight in front of him as he temporarily forget all the pain he had endured, forgot John, forgot everyone as he looked Dr. Halsey in the eye. "A pleasure to see you again Sean, I hope you enjoyed the present I gave you." She told him as an unusually big smile was on her face as she was genuinely happy to see him. He instantly sprang up and saluted for a second before the pain caused him to collapse on his knees as he kept himself up with his arms. "You always over exert yourself." She scolded him as she got up from her chair and shined a flashlight in his eyes. "Just how much sleep did you actually get aboard that ship? Your eyes look like they go on forever, and it looks as though you've lost a lot of blood."

She turned the light off as she let go of his chin and his gaze immediately fell to the floor from exhaustion. Kelly helped him to a seated position as Dr. Halsey sat back down in the command chair and turned back around. "We're heading towards my new lab. There I'll be able to give you the rest of your treatment and the blood you need."

"Well, could you at LEAST explain to me where the hell you've been for the past few months?" He asked her as she froze in place.

"All in due time Sean." Kelly told him. "Now just sit back and relax." She then helped him to the side as he was leaned against the bulkhead. He immediately drifted off to a deep sleep as Kelly walked over to Dr. Halsey. "You know, you don't have to tell them about it."

"I do Kelly." She replied rather coldly. "I betrayed them and left them when they needed me most, I can't just leave it at that." The ship then disappeared as it didn't turn on the cloaking device, but instead entered a hidden lab station in orbit around what used to be Harvest.

**1605 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD COVENANT LOYALIST FLAGSHIP **_**DIVINE JUDGMENT**_** PREPARING SLIPSPACE JUMP TO PURSUE PRISONER B-7 \ COMMAND BRIDGE**

"OK, so tell me again young grunt, what happened exactly?" Brutus asked, very enraged at the surprise attack by a single craft.

"Well, umm, you see your Excellency." Shola stammered as he tried to find the correct words for what happened. "A second human that resembled the one that we had captured showed up and liberated him. I hid in the shadows and witnessed the new one stick one of our plasma grenades on the first guard while she killed the other with his own launcher. And as our cameras picked up," he said as he pointed out the camera feed that came to life at his touch, "they managed to kill every troop in their way before vanishing from thin air and leaving the ship. That's all I know."

"I thank you for your honesty young one." He said as he stomped a short while and abruptly punched a nearby jackal's face in, causing it to fly all the way across the room and leave a dent in the bulkhead. Shola stepped back and chewed on his claws. "CAN SOME ONE IN THIS ROOM, TELL ME JUST HOW A SINGLE HUMAN INFILTRATED OUR SHIP AND LIBERATED AN S-CLASS PRISONER?!!!" Brutus screamed at the top of his lungs. Everyone, even the higher up brutes, cringed at their leader's anger; none of them had seen him this enraged before.

"If you insolent imbeciles cannot find him, then I will make every waking unit of your life hell!!" That was motivation enough for them all to work extra hard. After a few tense units, they had found his signature, albeit faint, they had a good enough lock to pursue him.

"You really must watch your temper." The voice told him. "It won't get you anywhere but the afterlife."

"My apologies master, I'm just upset that I couldn't break him OR kill the one you despise most."

"All in due time my dear brute, we just need to find a new poison. Then soon, very soon, both the human and the disgraced one shall be dead."


	7. A Grim Message

1610 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOAR CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL _CORRUPT HEART_ \ EN ROUTE TO HARVEST SYSTEM

The ship had entered slipspace as soon as they detected Sean's move. "What the hell is in the Harvest system?" Fred asked once he'd been briefed.

"You're guess is as good as ours Fred." James said as he performed a quick routine check on the systems of the ship.

"Actually, I believe I may have some insight to this recent conundrum." Rick interjected into the situation. "There is an abandoned research facility in orbit around Harvest, a select few know about it. I believe that his rescuer or rescuers is taking him there."

"Being saved by a bunch of ONIs, I doubt Sean was happy about that." Will said checking weapons and weapons systems.

"I'll go get Kate." Fred said as he began to leave.

"Hold it." Linda said stopping him. "We'll wake her up once we're finished with the jump, she's been awake for three days now and she needs rest. I know I promised to keep her posted, but I'm concerned for her safety that a lack of sleep could endanger her."

"I agree, I have been monitoring her the past few days and have noticed a lag in her movements and personality due to her lack of sleep." The Arbiter said. "Any more sleep deprivation will present a major hazard should we need her in combat. Now, about this research facility."

"Ah, yes, the station." Rick said as he brought up a file on it. "It was made by a company as the first research station in the history of mankind. It has since been renovated and enlarged and was since abandoned when Harvest was invaded. I theorize that the person or persons in question have been using it has a base."

"Yea, but just who are they?" Fred asked as Rick announced they only had fifteen minutes 'til regular space.

1616 HOURS, April 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ORBITAL STATION _FRUITCAKE_ IN ORBIT AROUND HARVEST \ MEDICAL WING

He awoke to a bright light as he shielded his eyes from it. "Oh good, you're awake." He heard Kelly's voice say as she finished inserting a tube into his wrist.

"No, it's not good that he's awake, he should be asleep regardless of the hyper sleep we put him in aboard the ship." He heard Dr. Halsey say as he could feel his lightheadedness slowly disappear and the rest of his body felt a little better. "There, that should make up for the blood loss you've suffered over the past week. Though the fact that you lost that much just proves how brutal Covenant torture is."

"Please don't remind me." He said as he attempted to wake up but a sharp pain in his shoulder caused him to fall back down and clutch it.

"That wound is next on my list, it hasn't been properly treated and if I don't move now you might receive permanent damage to the muscle there. Now just relax and think of something else." She told him as she removed his armor around it and went to work.

***

Sean sat up as instructed and felt the bondage strip on it. "Now don't overexert yourself like you normally do." She told him as he armored back up.

"Don't worry ma'am, I won't." He reassured her.

"That's what you always say, and then you go and screw it up again. It's a wonder how little damage you've done to your body." She marveled at him. "Now, please follow me." She instructed him as he got up and carried his helmet with him. "Doctor, just where are we?" He asked her with great intrigue.

"Ah, this place is a Science orbital research station, the first ever built, and it's been our base of operations ever since we left.

"This station was built to further research as well as human technology back in 2068. It originally orbited the Earth, but as we advanced further outward, and the company grew more cautious, it was moved to Harvest system a year after its discovery.

"Now, we have no knowledge of whatever the hell happened in this place, but one thing we are certain of is its vast array of technology." She said as the elevator halted, allowing the doors to open as Kelly greeted them sitting in one of the specially crafted seats she had made for herself. "Welcome to the bridge Sean." She said happily as he looked around. He was about to ask her a question when a blinking red light caught her attention. "Inbound Covenant ship exiting from slipspace." She warned them as the doctor took her seat and Sean stood over her shoulder. "Scanning now…….odd."

"What is it Kelly?" Dr. Halsey asked her.

"There are only six life forms aboard the ship's bridge. As well as what seems to be an AI." The blinking light turned blue as Kelly began to worry. "CRAP! They found us!"

"Relax Kelly." Sean said putting a hand on her shoulder. "They're friendlies."

1623 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL _CORRUPT HEART_ EN ROUTE TO ORBITAL STATION _FRUITCAKE_ \ COMMAND BRIDGE

"Alright, let's find out just who these people are." Fred said with his arms crossed as he stood before the communication screen.

"Sending the signal now." Rick told them.

"Not before they could scan us." Will interjected.

"We're on the same side, like it matters." Fred said back to him. "Besides, the low number will help justify that, now let's get them on main screen."

"Establishing a COM link now." Linda said as everyone looked towards the view screen and saw a woman with graying hair and a few wrinkles, but they all recognized her just the same as they all stood and saluted. "Well this is a surprise." The doctor said in astonishment as she saw her Spartans in front of her. "And who's the elite hiding in the back?" She asked as the Arbiter materialized.

'How'd she know?' He wondered to himself as he knelt down. "I am the Arbiter; it is a pleasure to meet the mother of my companions."

"Wait, if you're there," Linda began, "then shouldn't-"

"Hey guys!" Kelly said as she came into view from the side of Dr. Halsey with a face of happiness. "Don't worry, we got Sean here also." She said as she dragged him in front of the screen.

"We can reminisce later." Rick interjected. "I'm detecting another Covenant cruiser approaching. It's in our best interest that we head into the station at once!"

"Understood." Dr. Halsey said as they all saw a large opening appear in space. "Dock in the hangar and come up to our level on the bridge, and be quick about it." The transmission cut out.

"You heard the lady, set us down inside Rick." James ordered as the AI obeyed and turned the ship towards the opening and they felt the ship lurch forward. "ETA in three minutes at 150% engines output, that's as best as I can push it without risking a meltdown."

"Good. I'll be right back." Fred said as he left the bridge. He then opened up a private channel once he was sure nobody could hear him. "Hey Kate, wake up, we found him." He said into the helmet as he got no response. "Hello?" He was about to try again when he saw her pop out from the corner and sprint towards the bridge. The doors parted and she ran in and noticed the screen was blank.

***

"Alright, let's go roll out the red carpet." Sean said as he began to leave but stopped upon hearing Dr. Halsey clear her throat. "Something up?"

"Yes," she said as she got up and walked over to him, "please do not do anything stupid. Namely reopening your injury or touching anything on this station."

"You got it."

"I don't think you do. This is a serious matter, if the AI were to be reactivated on this station,"

"All hell would break loose." Kelly finished the doctor's statement.

"Precisely." She said as she pushed her glasses up on the bridge of her nose.

"OK, I get it, I know what to do." He reassured her stepping onto the elevator. "Now let's go."

1630 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD RESEARCH CENTER _FRUITCAKE_ IN ORBIT AROUND HARVEST \ CORRIDOR C-17

Dr. Halsey was observing the hangar camera through her data pad and once they had landed inside she sealed up it up and repressurized the hangar to make it breathable. They then walked into the hangar to find the bottom of the ship to open up and drop a platform that slowly sectioned itself into a staircase. Sean became overcome with joy as he saw Kate rush down them and he ran to meet her. She immediately jumped into his arms as they hugged each other and shared a short kiss. "I missed you so much." He said remembering the days of torture he'd endured, all in the hopes of seeing her again.

"I have too." She said as she saw him cringe in pain. "What is it?"

"He did exactly what I told him not to do." Dr. Halsey said as she smacked the foolish Spartan in the back of the head. "Aggravated his shoulder."

"Dr. Halsey!" Kate exclaimed in joy as she saw Kelly right behind her. "It's so good to see you guys again!"

"Same here." Kelly said as the rest of the crew vacated the ship.

"Hey, Sean." Fred yelled from the stairs holding the katana. "You dropped this." He said tossing it to him.

"I'll be more careful next time." Sean said as he sheathed it. The Arbiter then finally stepped out and his eyes seemed to pop out of their sockets when he saw both the doctor and Kelly. "Wait a unit, you're-!"

"Yes Arbiter, it's good to see you again." Everyone else fell silent.

"Wait a sec, you two have met before?" Will asked a bit puzzled.

"Indeed, it was only a few of your earth months ago." The Arbiter confirmed.

"It's time I told you all just why I left you. Please, follow me to the lounge; there we will discuss this matter."

***

Dr. Halsey sat there in her chair as Kelly and the Arbiter stood behind her on both sides. The remainder of the Spartans stood in an even row before her with Rick back inside Sean's armor. "Ok then, where to begin?" The doctor asked herself as she took a sip of coffee. "Ah, now I know. This takes place roughly a day or two after I left.

0050 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 20, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD DECOMISSIONED _CHIOPTERA_-CLASS VESSEL \ EN ROUTE TO SANGHELIOS VIA SLIPSPACE

Dr. Halsey sat at the command chair as Spartan-087, Kelly, walked through the doors behind her. "So ma'am," she began as she rubbed her eyes with one hand and held her helmet with the other, "mind telling me one more time what we're doing?"

"Fine, if you insist." She said as she rotated the chair around to face her chosen Spartan. "Rumors are going around about the elites being replaced after the near destruction of their entire fleet by the explosion from their supply ship. A race called the brutes, are being fitted to take their place. It is our job to feed this and turn the elites to our side and enact a coup to destroy the rest of the Covenant."

"How do you know they won't just blow us out of the sky the second we show up?" Kelly inquired a bit questioningly.

"Because, I've managed to get a source in there." The doctor replied slyly as Kelly's mouth dropped.

"You're kidding! You convinced an elite to join you?!" She asked in pure shock. Dr. Halsey simply smiled at her as she turned around and the ship exited slipspace. The elite home world came into view as a single ship was there waiting. A single elite popped up on the transmission screen. "You are the one they call Doctor Halsey I presume." He asked.

"Yes I am, it's a pleasure to finally meet you Arbiter." She replied calmly.

"Likewise my human comrade. We will have your ship dock in our hangar and escort you personally to our capital." With that the transmission ended and Kelly's jaw looked as though it was about to be dislocated. "Unbelievable, simply unbelievable." She said in astonishment. "And exactly how have you convinced him to join us?"

"Simple; he was disgraced by the brutes and the Covenant, so naturally he would like to join a resistance against it. He's been trying to convince the others to join us and they're starting to come around." They then suddenly felt the ship lurch forward as they were surrounded by a lavender beam of light as Kelly slipped her helmet on. Within minutes, they were on board the ship and were greeted by the Arbiter as they exited the ship. "Please, come." He said as he gestured for them to follow.

They followed him through a maze of corridors and rooms as he took them to the control bridge. All along the way they saw elites just about everywhere, occasionally a grunt or two, all of them looked at them with mixed looks, but none of them raised a weapon. "I have arranged for us to meet with the council of higher ups and attempt to convince them of our plan." The Arbiter said as they stepped onto a lift. "I have been working them over the past few days and I believe today will be the day we convince them." He told them triumphantly as the lift halted and they arrived on the bridge. "I just need to make one final preparation and then we shall be off." He told them as he punched in a few commands and what appeared to be a confirmation message showed on the screen.

"Excellent, they are ready for us." He said as he led them back to the lift, and eventually the hangar once more as they entered his personal phantom. The ship took off out of the hangar and turned sharply downward as it entered the atmosphere and approached the elite capital. It touched down just outside the front gates of the capitol building as the three exited the ship and the guards immediately drew there plasma rifles. "Identify yourselves and the manner of your visit!" The first shouted.

"I am the Arbiter, and I have permission to speak with the higher ups, now please let me through." Ordinarily, he would've been tested by DNA and such, but the armor he bared signified his identity, so they allowed him to enter without another word. "Ah, Arbiter, a pleasure to see you again." The elite leader known as Quila' Falamee said from his throne as he gestured for them to enter.

"Your Excellency." The Arbiter said as he knelt before them. Dr. Halsey and Kelly showed the same gesture. "Please, rise." Falamee instructed them as they did so. "To what honor do I bestow this visit?"

"I believe you know the intent of my visit Excellency." The Arbiter replied. He knew Falamee was fully aware of the manner of the visit.

"Ah, yes, your talk of us joining the humans in an effort to destroy the Prophets." Falamee said as he scratched the bottom of his mandibles in thought. "Please, continue."

"Well your Excellency," Dr. Halsey began, "our leaders believe that with your assistance, we can end this war within a matter of months. We've also seen a few changes in how some of the captured soldiers react to one another."

"As you know well," the Arbiter began, "the brutes are going from a simple reinforcement to replacing us in the Covenant army. I have seen time and time again their abusive ways against our kind in particular on the field."

"It's true." Dr. Halsey chimed in. "The brute POWs that I've seen have often ordered elites to do the work for them on the field, and have nearly killed those who disobey."

"I've even witnessed a few beaten to death for fun. If you do not believe me, then observe." The Arbiter said as a projection was shown before them all in the middle of the room. It was his own recording of him observing from the field. An elite walked up to two brutes that looked enraged at him. It tried to speak, but was met with a powerful punch to the face. Grunts and jackals all turned to see this display as the second brute kicked his fallen form in the stomach and caused it to overturn. The elite coughed up a mix of greenish-blue blood as it struggled to stand and was instead stomped on the same spot where he felt the kick. It wearily turned its head as a massive foot came down and it's head was no more. All of the council cringed at the display, as Falamee looked on, horrified. "That was my blood brother." The Arbiter finally said when it was over; everyone could detect the sadness and rage in his voice. "He had done nothing wrong, yet they placed the blame of the loss on him."

"You need not show or tell me anymore." Falamee spoke up. "If this is what is happening to our brethren, then I am going to put a stop to it. We will meet with the human leaders in secret in a few days."

"Your Excellency!" A messenger elite said as he came in. "Three brutes have come to see you."

"Show them in." Falamee responded. "I shall confront them with this evidence and teach them some manners."

"Come with me you two." The Arbiter said as he ran behind a pillar to the side of the room, both humans following. "If anything happens, we will intervene." Just then, the doors leading to the chamber opened, and three brutes approached. The two in the back wore olive green armor and carried plasma rifles. The middle one was a different story. He had white hair, a hammer on his back, and no helmet was on him. "Excellency." The white-haired brute said as if he was in a hurry.

"What is your name brute?" Falamee asked as he showed no signs of fear.

"I am Tartarus, and I have come here to deliver a message from the Prophet of Truth." He said as he produced a small cube. He then walked up towards the elite with the cube in hand. The elite accepted it and thanked him. "There is one more message to be delivered." Tartarus said. Nobody saw what happened next coming.

In one swift motion, the brute brought out his hammer and drove it right into Falamee's head. His skull immediately collapsed as the small explosion the hammer produced killed him instantly. "EXCELLENCY!!" The Arbiter shouted in distress. All hell broke loose from there. The elite guards brought out their rifles as the two other brutes made short work of a few and ducked behind cover. Tartarus made a run for the rest of the council as he felt projectiles bounce off his shields and armor. He turned to find the source as the butt of an assault rifle was jammed into his face. He absorbed the majority of the blow and ran. "WE'RE DONE HERE!" He shouted as the rest of the brutes left. Kelly fired at them the whole way as she managed to kill one. The Arbiter approached his fallen leader's disfigured body and his fists shook from rage as he examined it. "By my name, I swear to see that fiend die before my eyes!" He shouted in rage as the surviving council members hung their heads mourning.

This attack had just awakened a warrior's true rage, and it was about to go head on against the Covenant and see to its destruction. From that point on, the elites were officially enemies of the Covenant. Kelly and Dr. Halsey in the meantime went to take care of other business.

1725 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD ORBITAL RESEARCH STATION _FRUITCAKE_ IN ORBIT AROUND HARVEST \ LOUNGE AREA

"After that happened, we left for a planet known as Onyx, where something extraordinary happened and we were trapped in a slipspace bubble." Dr. Halsey concluded. Everyone simply stood there in silence as they took it all in. Rick was the first to speak. "OK, so that would explain the sudden elite assistance we received in the war." The AI pieced together. "I never knew that it was one of our own who attempted to convince them."

"Yes, it was with our combined efforts that they had decided to join us, Tartarus' actions merely put a period on it and made it official." Dr. Halsey told them.

"Wait a second, Dr., you said Onyx right?" Sean asked. "I thought that's where the Spartan III's were trained."

"Yes, that is correct, we ran into them shortly after crash landing there, and were trapped after I received a transmission from Cortana." The Dr. replied.

"Yea, some sort of ring got activated and sent us into a slipspace bubble; we were trapped for a week or two before getting out." Kelly told them as Sean's face suddenly lit up.

"HA!! I knew it did something!" He shouted in joy as everyone else just looked confused.

"The hell are you talking about?" Fred asked him a bit worried at his sudden outburst.

He pulled up a map from his ship's logs and pointed out a large red X with a label to it. "Wait a minute, Project Icarus? What the heck does that have to do with anything?" James asked him.

"What are you two talking about?" Dr. Halsey asked them with intrigue.

"I was working on combining our slipspace drives with Covenant ones to make a super drive." Sean told them. "But the test engine got too hot on its first jump and was about to blow up. We shot it out of an airlock and it detonated on that X." He told them as it suddenly all made sense….to Dr. Halsey at least.

"I get it now!" She yelled. "The slipspace drive detonated, which ordinarily would cause a large explosion anyways. But when you combined the technologies, it must've turned that explosion into a slipspace bomb."

"And that explosion negated the bubble we were in long enough for us to escape the planet." Kelly finished.

"I don't believe it." Kate said as she buried her face in her palm.

"See Kate! You said it was a complete failure, but this just proved you wrong." Sean said a bit arrogantly as Kate punched him hard in the chest and knocked out his shields. "Right, sorry."

"One moment, I'm detecting the pursuing ship exiting slipspace now." Rick warned through the speakers in Sean's helmet. "I suggest we abandon the station and take off for our secondary objective post haste." Linda thought about this for a moment. "What makes you so sure they'll find us?"

"This station cannot sustain orbit or operational systems without giving off enough energy to be detected on a scope." The AI replied. "They will be here in exactly five minutes. We should head back to _Corrupt Heart_ and head towards our secondary objective."

"I gotta agree with him, Rick brings up a good point." Fred intervened. "Even if we were to fight, it's a flagship we're fighting, a simple ship or orbital station's defenses won't be able to fight that without more fire power."

Frustrated with the logic, she reluctantly agreed with them. "Alright, let's get out of here while we still can." Everyone nodded and immediately took off for the hangar while Dr. Halsey downloaded all necessary files with her data pad and initiated the her Cole Protocol to wipe the facility's data. "Everything's ready." Once they made it to the ship, they ascended the stairs and sealed up the ship in preparation for takeoff. Sean ripped Rick's AI chip out of the back of his helmet and inserted it into the control panel. "Rick, warm up the slipspace generator and get ready to take off ASAP." Fred ordered.

"I'm on it." The AI responded as the ship rose up a few more meters and flew out of the now open hangar. It exited as the hangar sealed again so they could try and conceal it from the Covenant. Maybe they'd be too busy to check for it? The Covenant flagship came into view as they saw all the weapons were hot and aiming straight at them. "Rick, get us out of here, NOW!" James shouted as a salvo of plasma was fired at them. Everything on the view screen seemed to stretch and become distorted as they entered slipspace straight past the flagship and towards the coordinates that the Arbiter supplied them with.

"Well, that was a close one." Will said with a sigh of relief as something turned up on the screen. "Ok, what's that?"

"A transmission we received just as we jumped, I'll try and translate it." Rick said as his hologram had symbols scroll across it.

"No need, I can read it just fine." The Arbiter said as he walked up to the screen and read it. As he got towards the end, everyone saw his eyes look like they were going to leap out as he stepped back in terror. "No, it can't be!"

"What is it?" Linda asked a bit confused? "What's it say?"

"I'll handle it." Sean interjected as he placed his hand on the Arbiter's shoulders to reassure him that he was safe. "It says 'Mortals are weak; they lack the strength in order to transcend perfection. Gods are strong; they have steeled themselves and done what has been required of them.' What's it mean?"


	8. No Plan is FullProof

1743 HOURS, APRIL 14, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL _CORRUPT HEART_ \ EN ROUTE TO PREDETERMINED COORDINATES VIA SLIPSPACE

The Arbiter was about to speak up and say something, when the symbols on the screen slowly dissolved into a hologram. It was a light shade of red and had code on it like that of an AI, but this one was different. Its form was that of an alien in robes as it sat in what appeared to be a throne. The Arbiter clenched his hands into a fist and his face shaped into one of pure anger and hatred. "He should be dead." He muttered to himself.

"Greetings filthy humans, disgraced one." It said with superiority in its voice. "Your efforts to escape are only delaying the inevitable. You shall all parish in the end. I know not of your plans, but I can assure you, they are all in vein. I am not as powerful as I was before you killed me Arbiter, but I still live on. You cannot run forever, and wherever in this vast universe you may go, we will pursue you and ensure your long and painful demise." The transmission ended.

"I don't understand it, it is not possible, I killed him with my own sword!" The Arbiter yelled at the blank screen. "I know one of you is going to ask me this, so I shall answer it. That was the Prophet of Truth, who I assure you that I killed with the Demon by my side."

"He looked more like an AI to me." Will said as he tried to add some sense to it all. "They must've somehow integrated our AI technology and used it to convert his mind into one."

"Makes sense, I mean, how else can you explain the dead coming back to life? Just look at Rick." James pointed out as the Spartan AI froze.

It then resumed its task. "Well, running the numbers on that it is an 84% chance of probability, but I don't see how they managed to find out the process."

"Does it really matter?" Linda asked as she stepped up from the back. "It could've just been that they invented their own way. What matters now is destroying that ship."

"You'd need more ships for that." Kelly said. "With the firepower that thing has, it's going to be a massive pain. Not to mention the other ships that are tailing it."

"We'll figure this all out later. Right now, we should get some rest." Fred said as he tried to maintain some order.

"I concur." Rick supported him. "ETA to designated coordinates is approximately seventy hours. You should all get some sleep so you're at peak performance for the search ahead."

"So, just what is this secondary objective?" Dr. Halsey asked as she stood up from her chair.

"We're going after John." Linda told them as both the doctor and Kelly froze up.

"I….I thought he had died." Kelly said a bit hopelessly.

"That hasn't been confirmed yet. This is why we're going to investigate it." She said back.

"Besides Kelly, you know about us Spartans." James said as they all remembered the saying they had earned. "Spartans never die, they're just missing in action."

1630 HOURS, APRIL 16, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL _CORRUPT HEART_ \ EN ROUTE THROUGH SLIPSPACE TOWARD PROBABLE LOCATION OF SPARTAN-117

The past couple of days had flown by faster than anyone had realized. Mostly because they all spent around twelve hours total sleeping on and off. Sean's wound had healed up just fine, only a scar showed where it had been. All the Spartans had done a few battle simulations of what was most likely going to happen should they run into more Covenant; which they all had aced with flying colors the first try. They even included the Arbiter, who learned the signals and gestures they Spartans used for better communication which he picked up on fast for a non-Spartan.

Sean was presently sleeping in his assigned bunk and was having a nightmare of what had happened on the ship. This time however, he was outfitted in civilian clothing instead of his MJOLNIR armor, and had to feel the pain all over again, ten times worse than before. He was struck across the face and lay in a heap of pain as Brutus approached him, smiling as he did so. 'Do it.' He heard Truth say. Brutus then brought his foot down on his head. "AH!!" He screamed as he sprang up from his bed in a cold sweat. He looked around the room and found nobody there as he sat there, panting. His time on that ship had gotten to him, even if he hadn't known just how much. "Something wrong?" He heard Kate ask as she stood in the doorway to the sleeping quarters.

"No, nothing's wrong." He said as he looked away and got up.

"Alright, so I take it that a scream of terror is nothing hmm?" The tone in which she spoke in indicated that she knew what was wrong with. "It was really that bad?"

"I'd never been more scared in my life." He said as he sat back down. Kate immediately walked over to him and sat beside him. "It was two times worse than ONI's crap, no matter what hope I clung to, it faded with my strength. Every time I fell asleep it was because I had lost so much blood I passed out from shock. I thought I'd never see any of you again."

"That's in the past now, leave it behind you and move on." She said as she wrapped her arm around him and pulled him closer. "As long as you have me, Fred, James, everyone, we'll never let anyone scar you like that again."

"Thanks." He said as they shared a brief kiss. "Oh yea, we know you're there." He said as he stared seemingly into thin air.

"How the heck did you know?" They heard Kelly ask as she materialized before them.

"Do you honestly think we don't know you by now?" Kate asked the obvious. "Besides, I saw you walk in here a few minutes ago." They then heard someone clear their throat from the doorway and turned to see James standing there. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything." He said a bit nervously.

"Not in particular." Kelly replied as she got to her feet. "So, what's up?"

"We'll be exiting slipspace in a few minutes, just thought I'd give you a heads up." He said walking away to the bridge followed by Kelly. "I guess we should head to the bridge now." Sean said as he tried to get up but was held in place by Kate. "Ok, what is it?" He asked with a sigh.

"No matter what happens, please just promise me you'll come back alive." She told him with her eyes full of worry.

"Don't worry; I didn't live through hell to die now." He then gave her a quick kiss on the cheek as they got up and went towards the bridge.

The second they entered the bridge they instantly saw the view screen go from the black emptiness of slipspace to the somewhat less black and star filled regular space. "This is the place alright." The Arbiter said as he looked at the various angles the view screens showed. "This was the site of his final battle."

"Then where's the _Dawn_?" Will asked looking out at the various stars scattered about and finding nothing. "It should be somewhere around here."

"Give me a second, I should be able to find its probable location when I calculate it." Rick told them as the symbols on him moved ten times faster. "Ok, from when the aft section of _Forward Unto Dawn_ floated here after the destruction of the halo ring, it should be right here." He said bringing up a planet on the view screen. "There are three probable locations that have a 98% chance of being correct."

"Alright then." Fred said as he touched the first marker. "Will, James, and the Arbiter, I want you three to search this area. Linda, Kelly, you're with me." He said as he touched the second marker. His hand then moved to the third marker, "Kate, Sean, you two are to check here."

"I'll stay up here and help relay information to you all." Dr. Halsey said. "The battlefield isn't my area of expertise."

"Understood ma'am." Fred replied. "Meet me in the hangar in five, we'll leave then." With that, everyone left to prepare for the ensuing search for Master Chief, and the ensuing battle with the remaining Covenant Loyalists.

1655 HOURS, APRIL 16, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL _CORRUPT HEART_ \ LAUNCHING DROPSHIPS TO SURFACE OF UNMARKED PLANET

Everyone was ready to go in the hangar. They had all the equipment, weapons, and other necessities so they could find John fast and get out faster. The plan was to take three separate phantoms down to the surface, investigate the locations using the signal, and then get out before trouble reared its ugly head. Sean sat down in his phantom's pilot seat, powered it up, and was off with Kate down to the surface. "So, do we have any intel on this planet?" She asked standing behind him.

"Sadly no, which is why I want to get the hell out of here as soon as we can." He replied as they entered the atmosphere and were on route to their predetermined destination. They were about two kilometers away when they discovered something no one expected yet: Covenant resistance. He keyed the COM. "Be advised, there are Covenant on this planet, I repeat, Covenant are here on the planet."

"_Roger that Sean_." Fred replied a second later. The ship then rocked a bit as plasma bombardments filled the air around them and did damage to the ship. "How is it they know we're not with them?" Sean asked as he fought with the controls to keep the phantom in the air.

"Beats me." Kate said as she looked to the right. "Oh crud, BRACE FOR IMPACT!" She yelled as a wraith plasma bolt him them dead center on the right side, taking out the engine located there and causing smoke to trail from it. The phantom shook wildly from the recoil and was almost leveled out before another shot hit the other engine and completely disabled the ship. "Looks like we're going in hot." Sean said as he strapped himself into the chair. Kate sat in the co-pilot seat and did the same as they coasted through the air and slammed into the ground. The initial bounce shook them up and knocked a few things loose as it hit the ground again and skidded into a massive boulder, demolishing the nose of the phantom and nearly hitting the two Spartans. "So much for a soft landing." Sean commented as he took the sniper rifle off the rack to his right and clicked the safety off. He then eased the side hatch of the phantom opened and stuck the cope outside to get a better look.

They were surrounded on virtually all sides by a mass of Covenant soldiers, namely brutes and jackals with a few hunters scattered about, but no grunts. Ignoring how odd this was, he shut the hatch again and turned to Kate. "So, what's the plan?"

"The plan? We kill every one of those bastards, that's the plan." She said with enthusiasm.

"Though it's only a matter of time before they start bombarding us, then it's going to be cat and mouse 'til they all die or we do." Though they hated to admit it, that pretty much was the situation they were in, until a voice came over the damaged radio of the phantom. "H…lo? I……one…..ere." The static-filled voice said.

"Wait a minute, Shola? Shola is that you?" Sean asked in response as he fumbled around with the wires to get the radio in working order again. "Ye…..it is I. Whe……ar….ou?"

"Hang on a minute, this damn thing is coming in covered in static." He replied back, hoping that it got through. He worked as fast as he could, cutting wires and reconnecting them until it was finally crystal clear. "Alright, I think its working."

"I am glad to hear this my friend." Shola's voice said completely as the radio was officially repaired.

"What's going on Shola? How come I'm not seeing any of your kind in this fight?"

"It is a rather long story, but I convinced them to make us a cavalry unit. Little do they know of leopard's spots." Sean knew what that was. It was the coded message they worked up when he was a prisoner, it meant that Shola had convinced the grunts under Brutus' command to revolt.

"Understood, good luck pal."

"May the Exalted ones watch over us." Shola said as the radio finally short-circuited and exploded. "Leopard's spots? What the heck does that mean?" Kate asked as she grabbed her gear.

"It means we've got a whole mess of ghosts on our side." Sean replied as he prepared to blow the door off the phantom.


	9. Murphy's Law

**1656 HOURS, APRIL 16, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD PHANTOM EN ROUTE TO DESTINATION 2 \ UNMARKED PLANET**

"_Be advised, there are Covenant on this planet, repeat, Covenant are here on the planet."_ Sean's voice said over the radio.

"Roger that." Fred replied from his phantom. "Well, that was quick."

"Something tells me they figured out how to get here faster." Kelly said. "I've been seeing different schematics for their slipspace drives."

"Like it matters now? We're ending this here and now." Linda said as she checked her clip and slid it back into the sniper rifle. They then heard a large explosion and then static as the radio cut out. "That doesn't sound good."

"Hey, quick question, did they remember to take the warthog out from under their phantom?" Kelly asked as she came up with why the explosion came over the radio.

"Probably not, Sean hasn't always been the brightest when it comes to pre-mission checks. Well, they're Spartans; they can make it through this, let's just forget about them for now and find our destination."

"Gotcha." Kelly said a little uneasily as she keyed her COM. "Team 1, be advised, Kate and Sean went down." There was a pause as plasma fire could be heard firing in the background as the Arbiter broke the silence. "_We copy team 2, may luck shine upon them. We have a few technicalities of our own over hear….make that one less._" The COM then snapped off.

"Sounds like everyone is in trouble but us." Linda said as she listened in.

"Make that everyone." Fred said as he pointed to the salvo of wraith fire heading straight for them. He then forced the phantom into a steep dive to dodge the wave of plasma as he pulled up and was skating mere meters above the ground. "Opening up the hatches now, take out as many as you can." Fred said as the hatches opened up and plasma turrets dropped into place. Linda and Kelly took a turret each as they opened fire on the ground units below. Brutes, jackals, banshees, just about everything was taken down by the streams of plasma. The main turret on the phantom was busy tracking and shooting the wraiths, destroying a few here and there. "We're approaching our destination, two kilometers to go." 'Just how did they know where we were headed?' He thought to himself as he saw a wraith explode on the turret's view screen.

**1656 HOURS, APRIL 16, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD PHANTOM EN ROUTE TO DESTINATION 2 \ UNMARKED PLANET**

"_Be advised, there are Covenant on this planet, repeat, Covenant are here on the planet."_ Sean's voice said over the radio. James turned off the COM as he piloted the phantom over a few mountaintops.

"Geez, looks like things are going to hell real fast." Will said as he checked on their weapons.

"I sense that something is wrong here, how could they have set up their forces in such a way as this?" The Arbiter commented as suspicion filled his voice.

"You're right, they must've hacked our speakers during the planning of this thing." James said as he flew up high to avoid a rather tall mountain and noticed blue dots on the mountain ahead. "Oh crud, we have company. Looks like wraiths."

"Open fire then James!" Will shouted as he handed the Arbiter his personal weapons and slung his own. The sides then opened up to reveal the beautiful view of the mountains….well; it would be more beautiful if it weren't for all the plasma heading towards them. They hopped on the turrets and began to tear apart the mortar tanks. "Aim for above the tanks, cause an avalanche to cover it." Will suggested as he shot a perfect line above a wraith and was rewarded with rocks and boulders tumbling down as one completely smashed the main gun and then crushed the startled gunner into a pulp.

The Arbiter did the best that he could as he heard a voice come over his headset. "_Team 1, be advised, Kate and Sean went down._" He heard Kelly say. A few plasma shots went over his head and scorched the panels above him as he returned fire. "We copy team 2, may luck shine upon them. We have a few technicalities of our own over here." He said as he shot through the open hatch of a wraith and saw it explode into a fire ball. "Make that one less." He said turning off the COM.

James was too busy trying to pilot, shoot, and look at the same time as he spotted a plateau far off in the distance and what appeared to be an unnatural column rising up from it in a small crater. "Arbiter, Will, I think I've found the _Dawn_!" He shouted back at them. "Taking the phantom down on that plateau, looks like Rick knows his stuff." He remarked as the combined fire from the three phantom turrets had reduced the ambush to half of its original strength.

Motivated by the news, the Arbiter gave a battle cry as he and Will rained down plasma judgment on the wraiths and destroyed five more in the process. James hastily set them down on the plateau and parked just outside the mangled hangar entrance and sent out a UNSC-coded transmission. "Cortana, this is Spartan James, if you can hear me, thaw out the Chief, we need him."

"_James?_" Cortana's voice answered back. "_I'll get right on it. Get in here ASAP; I got a feeling it's going to get bad out there fast._"

"Roger that, James out." He said snapping off the COM. He then got off the phantom as Will followed and the Arbiter rushed inside to see his friend once more. All three of them made it into the aft section as they saw Cortana standing on a pedestal before them as she seemed happy to see them. "Nice to see you three again, the Chief is right in there." She said gesturing to the Cryo pod behind her as a loud hissing noise was heard and the door creaked open. There he was, decked in the same MJOLNIR armor he'd been wearing since Reach, all the scrapes in the armor as he stood up from the pod. James and Will snapped a crisp salute as the Arbiter stood in awe. "Ow my head…..James?....Will?....Arbiter?" John asked as he held his head in pain from a post-Cryo sleep headache.

"The demon lives!" The Arbiter shouted. "It brings me great joy to see you again."

"Good to see you again friend." John remarked as he returned his Spartan's salute. "At ease you two. Thanks for coming back for me. Is anyone else with you?"

"Yea, we've got Fred, Kate, Sean, Kelly-"

"Wait, Kelly's here?" John asked cutting Will off.

"Yea," James confirmed. "Linda's with us too." The Chief visibly twitched at hearing her name. Sure he liked all his Spartans, but Linda was special to him. When he thought she had died on that Orbital station around Reach, he felt like he had lost something, and only when she was alive again did he feel it return to him. He quickly snapped out of his thought and grabbed the MA5B assault rifle from the side of the pod and slung it over his back. "Let's go." He said pulling Cortana's chip out of the pedestal and slid it back into his helmet.

**1658 HOURS, APRIL 16, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL **_**CORRUPT HEART**_** \ IN STATIONARY ORBIT AROUND UNKNOWN PLANET**

All the while, Rick was listening intently on everything that was said between all three teams and monitoring the Covenant activity and a few communication signals….all of it didn't add up. "Just how did this happen?" He asked Dr. Halsey as she sat at the communications station in front of him.

"They somehow must've listened in on our plan, it's the only way they managed to set up this effective of a counter measure."

"Improbable doctor." The AI said back as the symbols on him went back and forth. "I've scanned this ship hundreds of times, there is now way anyone could be-"

"Have you considered that they could have used an outside device?" She said interrupting as the symbols stopped and he turned from red to purple in embarrassment.

"Yes….well, I'm no Cortana." He said in defense.

"No you're not, you're more orientated for tactical advice and space engagements, now do a scan on any devices that could be around or attached to the ship." The AI returned to his normal color and did as instructed as he felt so stupid. "Well, it would appear there is a small probe attached to our communications array systems. I'll attempt to disable it and-" He tried to say as his hologram shook violently as if it were shocked with a massive amount of electricity and he collapsed. "I should have seen that coming." He said weakly.

"Just what happened?" Dr. Halsey asked him.

"Like I said before, I'm no Cortana, I accidentally triggered that, one moment." He said as he got up and tried to compose himself. The AI then tried a different approach, and finally disabled it. "It's been dealt with…..but regrettably not soon enough."

"What does that mean?" She asked leaning down towards him.

"Listen to what I received seconds before."

"_Arbiter, Will, I think I found the _Dawn_!_" James' voice said as the doctor slumped back in her chair. "I hope they can get out soon, or else this won't be much of a rescue."

**1700 HOURS, APRIL 16, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ 2 CLICKS FROM DESTINATION 3 \ UNKNOWN PLANET**

The charges were set and both of the Spartans were ready for whatever was waiting for them on the outside. They looked at each other, nodded, and set off the charges as they rushed out of the newly made hole in the side of the phantom. The immediately opened fire, took out a few Covenant, and ducked behind a boulder as the smoke settled and they began what was arguably the hardest fight they would ever go through. It began chaotically, Covenant fired everywhere into the smoke to try and kill them, quite a few friendly fire kills resulted from this.

Now with the smoke completely gone, several jackals looked around to find the two humans as a brute chieftain ordered them all to halt, brought out its hammer, and advanced on the carnage. It proceeded cautiously as it crept down the crater caused by the phantom. It passed right by the boulder and then vanished from sight as Kate dragged it behind the boulder and slit its throat with her combat knife, tossing the corpse aside. Now fully aware of where they were, every one of them fired at the boulder. The two Spartans waited for the right moment, and then jumped up onto the phantom, tossed a plasma grenade each, and jumped down to the other side. The grenades hit their marks, sticking a hunter pair right on their faces and taking them out of the fight instantly. "Well, I figured out how they found out about us." Kate said as she leaned back against the phantom.

"Yea, what is it?" Sean asked intrigued.

Kate then punched him right on his shoulder. "You forgot to get rid of the warthog you moron!" She shouted at him as he cringed at her rage and his own stupidity. "It's overturned on our eight o'clock right now."

"Ok then, suppressive fire please." He said as he ran towards the location that she named. He shot anything that dared to be in his general path as bursts of plasma went right after him. A few well-aimed bursts from a battle rifle aided him in his mad dash, and he somehow made it to the warthog. He immediately put his armor's strength enhancement to good use and flipped the warthog back onto all fours, hopped into the driver seat, and took off for the phantom. He managed to flatten a small group of jackals and knocked a hunter off its feet as he used the hand brake and stopped the vehicle right in front of Kate. "Need a lift?" He asked her.

"Yes thank you, but I prefer to ride in the back." She joked as she got behind the LAAG turret that was mounted on the back of the 'hog. Sean slammed his foot down and gunned the throttle, causing the tires to kick up a lot of dirt before taking off. As soon as they were in the sights of the turret, Kate opened fire as the explosive rounds tore through the Covenant forces. Their main targets were the hunters, and they had managed to kill a dozen of them, leaving only a pair or two left. They then focused on the brutes that wore gold armor and chieftains, attempting to eliminate the chain of command and their main strength. Only one of the hammer wielding chieftains fell while at least five other brutes fell before a plume of green plasma exploded at the left rear wheel. He fought with the wheel to keep it together, but another green plasma ball struck the driver's side and sent it flying several meters, ejected both of its occupants onto the ground.

Sean shook his head to clear it as Kate was busy getting the warthog off of her legs. He rushed to assist her and carried her to safety behind a rock as he pulled up a medical report on her current condition. It was just what he was afraid of, her entire left leg was broken from top to bottom, this was going to put them in grave danger if she didn't get to a secure place fast. He cursed under his breath as he peaked over the rock and saw the now smaller Covenant force fanning out and scanning the area for them. He got out a grenade and got his plan: he'd throw it as a distraction, pick Kate up, and then run like hell to the fallback point, where they'd hopefully run into blue or red team. His finger reached into the loop as he heard a loud noise behind him and turned to inspect it as a ghost flew right over his head and scraped the boulder….and a jackal's head. Dozens more followed and began shooting and ramming the Covenant that were in the area as chaos once more took over. Brutes fell, ghosts exploded, and everyone tried to figure out just what the hell happened when a grunt ran up to the Spartans. "You're timing couldn't have been better Shola." Sean said relieved.

"What? You know this gru- Argh!" She tried to say as she clutched her leg in agony.

"Yes, I am a friend of your brother. But that can be explained later. We must get you both out of here fast, before anything else bad happens." Too late. A phantom closed in on the three as they could see the plasma turret warm up on the bottom and begin to fire. They braced themselves, but felt nothing as the plasma turned a hunter into a corpse. A lone figure then appeared at the side hatch and was busy firing an assault rifle around the group. "Good thing we got here in time." Kelly said as she jumped down and knelt beside Kate. "How bad is she?"

"Bad. Her left leg is shattered completely; please tell me you're our pick-up." Sean said as he shot a jackal in the head as it tried to sneak up on them.

"Yes, now grab her, and get all of you on board." She said as she picked the grunt up and slung him over her back as he desperately clung to her shoulders. She then jumped up as high as she could and landed inside the phantom as Sean picked up Kate and cradled her in his arms. "Don't worry; I'm getting you out of here." He told her as he jumped up and landed next to Kelly.

"Alright Fred, get us the heck out of here." Linda shouted at him as she stopped firing the turret and closed the side hatches. The phantom then lurched upward as they gained height and left the rest of the small force to the ghosts. "Any reason you brought a grunt on board?" Linda asked as she looked Shola over.

"Long story, I'll explain later." Sean said as he sat Kate upright in a chair and propped up her leg. She let out a scream of pain as he grabbed her hand and held it tight. "I'm not going to leave you, I promise." He said as Kelly grabbed a medical kit and began to work on the badly damaged leg.


	10. One Hero's Return Over Another's Fall

**1715 HOURS, APRIL 16, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD PHATNOM EN ROUTE TO TEAM 3'S LAST KNOWN COORDINATES \ UNKOWN PLANET**

Taking the transmission from Team 1, John, Will, James, and the Arbiter took off for the last known location of Team 3. It was pretty much smooth sailing for the first few minutes or so, but things were about to go to hell real fast. "Hey guys, what the heck is that?" James asked from the pilot's seat as he pointed on the view screen to a purple shape that was on the edge of the screen.

"Adjust the camera and point it straight at it." The Chief ordered as James obeyed. The screen moved towards it as the object began to move and John felt a chill run through his spine. "Oh crap, get us out of here, NOW!" He barked as beams of plasma shot out from the object at them followed by a massive green plasma stream. "The hell is that thing?!" Will asked as he let the side hatch drop.

"It's a scarab, but just what it's doing here is beyond me." John responded as he manned the other turret. As the phantom arced away, another scarab appeared and began to open fire. 'Just why did they put so much fire power here?!' John thought to himself as he shot the crew of the scarab as best he could. They dodged the plasma fire and managed to take a leg out on the first scarab. Using this to their advantage, they swooped around, took out the protective shield, and destroyed the scarab's central motor system, triggering a chain of explosions that destroyed it entirely. "Hell yeah!" James shouted as he punched his fist into the air. He then brought the phantom to bear on the second scarab as it opened fire on them. It took a direct hit on the nose the phantom shook violently and smoke began to trail from the engines. "Get us out of here now; we're not going to risk fighting this thing!" John ordered as the phantom limped its way out of there and barely dodged the plasma fire that was incoming. The side hatches shut close as they moved away as fast as they could as a stray plasma bolt hit them and sent the phantom into a dive. "BRACE FOR IMPACT!!" Will shouted as the control panel exploded and forced James out of his seat. The phantom skidded across the ground, bouncing up and coming down again and again until it slammed into a Cliffside.

"Chief…..Chief, can you hear me?" Cortana asked him as he shook his head to clear it.

"Well, I feel like I was just ran over by a warthog, but otherwise I'm okay."

"Good, you need to get everyone out of here, I'm picking up increased Covenant radio traffic and it's all point towards you guys." He took her advice and woke everyone up from their dazed state, told them to get moving, and led them out of there. "Hang on; I'm picking up something from red leader, patching him through."

"_John, you there?"_ Fred asked over the COM.

"Yeah, I'm here, I need a sit rep on your situation." He ordered.

"_We picked up Sean and Kate, that and a grunt, he'll explain later. How are things on your end?"_

"Well, the crap's hit the fan and there's a scarab chasing us down, requesting immediate evac."

"_Read you loud and clear Chief, ETA fifteen minutes._" Fifteen minutes? Would they even be alive by then? It didn't matter; they just kept on running and eventually found a rather large jungle area, perfect for guerilla tactics. They decided to head there and wait for the scarab to pass, maybe it wouldn't see them. It wasn't long before the scarab approached the jungle, and it simply tore its way through the foliage, passing them right by. Something didn't feel right; the scarab was gone, so why did he feel like they were still in danger? "I'm picking up brutes on the radar, a lot of them; it's a hunter-kill team John." Cortana said in his ears. "It's your call; fight or run."

"Well if we run they're not going to make it easy now will they?" He asked sarcastically. He made a few gestures to his team and signaled them to lay low and only engage if they saw fit as two acknowledgement lights winked and the Arbiter nodded. They all got into a hiding area and waited. He kept his eye on the motion tracker the whole time, noticing their pattern of movement and guessing on where they'd go next. He saw one moving right on the Arbiter, and heard bushes shake and a very brief scream. Every red dot then converged on that location, and what happened next could only be described as hectic. A stream of plasma shot out from the bush and nailed a brute right in the face as the crackle of battle rifles followed suit. John got out his shotgun, popped out of cover, and nearly got hit in the face as a grenade from a brute shot missed his head by a mere centimeter. He shot the brute responsible in the arm as he dropped the shot in pain. Next thing they knew, brute shots and spike grenades were flying everywhere. "FALL BACK!" John shouted through his helmet as he saw his team run back. They kept moving, firing as they went, to try and find new cover or some sort of way out of this mess. They made it to a large clearing and saw a lone grunt standing there. "Humans, Arbiter, come with me; we have something to deal with your pursuers." A bit skeptical, but just trying to get out; they obliged to the grunt's request and ran after him. Once they made it to the other end of the clearing, they saw just what he had planned. At least a dozen or so ghosts were in hiding, waiting for the brutes.

A few minutes later, the brutes emerged from the bushed, weapons sweeping the area for anything that moved, and noticed a rustling ahead of them. One of them walked up to it cautiously alone, and when he parted the branches, he was engulfed by a flurry of plasma as his body ceased to exist. The other ones ducked behind trees and into bushes as they returned fire. "We can hold them here." The grunt told them as he took them further off. "Your brethren have sent me these coordinates to give you, they will meet you there, now hurry." Blue NAV markers appeared on the Spartan's helmet display as they led the Arbiter out of the jungle and in the direction of the rendezvous point.

They made it there and took up hiding positions around it, waiting for the arrival of their team. No sooner than when they were ready, a phantom appeared and opened its side hatches. Linda was firing down with her sniper on one side with Shola on turret. The other side had Kelly on turret with Sean pouring down shots with his battle rifle. The main turret heated up as well and tore through the trees like a steam roller, destroying anything and everything in its sights. With the cavalry here, John, Will, James, and Arbiter opened fire on the stragglers, cutting down the brutes thoroughly. The bottom hatch then opened as the ground team hopped inside and the phantom took off. No sooner had it cleared the forest a green blob surged toward them. Fred had to dart the phantom upward, causing a massive shift inside that caused everyone to lose their balance as the hatches began to shut. It glanced the side as an explosion rocked the passengers, causing Sean to go flying out before they closed fully.

"Damn it Fred! We need to go back!" Master Chief shouted at him as he entered the cock pit.

"No can do John, I'm sorry but until we clear that scarab we're pretty much dead." He said as he got the Phantom up higher to avoid the massive firepower racing towards them. "Kate, open up a COM and find him."

"OK." She said as she searched for him on the private channels. "Sean, you there? Sean?!"

"I am afraid to say that I am detecting no signal." Cortana interjected. "It is most likely that his communications systems are damaged from the fall……I am sorry Kate."

"Orders Chief?" Linda asked as she slung her rifle. John simply remained silent and slumped down into a sitting position before slamming his head against the wall of the phantom. "OK Chief, you do know that's where my implant is right?" Cortana asked him slightly angry at what he did.

"I don't know what to do." He said to Cortana alone as he shut off his suit's external speakers and opened up a private channel. "What would you do in this situation?"

She remained silent for a few seconds. "Even I don't know Chief. You're the leader of the Spartans for a reason; you always come up with something."

He stood back up and reactivated his speakers. "Alright, Fred, lose the phantom and try and get behind it. We're going to hit its vital spot."

"Roger Chief." Fred said as he dodged another plasma burst from the turret.

**1740 HOURS, APRIL 16, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ GROUNDSIDE ON UNKOWN PLANET \ CRASH SITE OF SPARTAN-002**

Sean was in a world of pain, he had landed right on his head, and now his entire body was numb from the resulting shockwave. He struggled to sit up as he heard loud booms and felt the ground shake as the scarab moved. If he was stuck here, he might as well deal with the problem. He ran towards the sound of noise as he felt the ground shake more frequently and violently. He eventually found the colossus, looking up at it as he felt a shiver run through his spine. Ignoring it, he ran up to one of the legs and jumped up as high as he could. He removed the lotus anti-tank mine from his leg and attached it to the leg of the scarab before dropping down and pulling the trigger once he was clear. It exploded with monstrous force as he could hear alarms. Good, that meant is was down.

Using this to his advantage he sprinted into the bottom of it, killing the jackal on the turret and snapping it off of its hinges. He ran up the ramp and cleared house with it, destroying everything that was in his way. Instead of destroying it, he ran to the command center of the behemoth and changed the COM frequency. "Chief! Kate! Anyone out there?!" He yelled into the speaker.

"Sean? Sean is that you?" Cortana replied.

"Thank God, yes Cortana it's me. I'm aboard the scarab right now and-"

"And you are invading on my plans." A voice screamed into his head. He smacked his helmet trying to clear it as the voice spoke again. "All of your friends will die before your eyes. Join me, and I can prevent this."

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!" He screamed as he tore his helmet off and chucked it out the side, landing somewhere in the forest below.

"Sean, are you OK? What happened?" Cortana asked.

"Nothing, just an annoyance that I had to deal with. Requesting permission to destroy this thing." He said returning to the speaker.

"Hang on a sec." She told him as there was a pause. He scanned the area with his carbine while waiting, not taking any chances. "Ok, John, err, I mean the Master Chief has approved your request Sean. Meet us at this LZ once you're-"

"Too late for that Cortana, my helmet…..flew off in the fall; I won't be able to see any markers."

"Well great. Then in that case find a good LZ and pop your smoke grenade, we'll find you."

"So will the Covenant." He replied back coldly. "Meet me two clicks from my last known coordinates North by North east, there's a mountain range there that will provide an ample landing zone."

"Copy that, good luck Sean." She replied.

"Just ignore any smoke I put up." He told her as the COM went dead. He then quickly ran out of the command center and to the back of the scarab, finding its core and priming a plasma grenade. He tossed it and it stuck onto it as he jumped down and rolled to his feet, sprinting as soon as he was up. He had to clear the blast or he was screwed. He went at max speed, every muscle in his legs being pushed past their max as the scarab exploded behind him. This sent a massive shockwave out, shaking the ground, knocking over trees, and finally ceasing as the fire ball subsided. He had made it; now all he had to do was navigate his way to the specified LZ.

After half an hour of non-stop running, he managed to find a suitable LZ and popped his smoke. "That outta slow 'em down." He said to himself as he kept running, hoping the smoke would throw off the Covenant forces. Another ten minutes passed as he spotted the mountain he mentioned. He knew that they'd hidden the phantom and themselves waiting for him, so he briskly ran up the mountain, trying to stay as out of sight as he could. Something didn't feel right though, it was too quiet, too easy. His bad feelings where confirmed as he found a familiar face awaiting him on a flat area of the mountain. "So, we meet again Demon." The brute said, hammer in hand.

"Brutus!" Sean exclaimed as he grabbed the energy sword from his leg compartment and activated it. "This won't end like the last time."

"You're right, this time I won't hesitate to kill you." The brute said with a smile. Again with his emotions, Sean charged him as his sword hit the pole of the hammer and sparks flew. He kicked the brute back and tried lunging as the Brutus spun the hammer, having the end intercept the sword. Cursing under his breath, the Spartan backed off and flipped backwards over the hammer, landing on his feet in his fighting stance. "Impressive Demon, but this ends here." Brutus said as he awaited the next move.

Sean obliged as he once again charged him. Swing after swing, parry after parry, they both went back and forth from offense to defense as neither of them really had an advantage. However, that cycle ended as Sean stumbled backwards from being hit by the hammer's pole and he tripped on a small hole. Brutus took this opportunity as he swung his hammer upwards and slammed into Sean's chest. His shields took the brunt of the hit, and then the explosion happened that sent him flying as he was embedded into a boulder, his sword had flew off the mountain and was nowhere to be found. A gash was on the side of his head that bled down his right cheek as he jumped out of the hole he had made in the giant rock.

Blindly he charged again with his fist raised. "OLY OLY OXEN FREE!!" He shouted at the top of his lungs as he went to punch Brutus in the face, and was met with the hammer's blade to his chest. With no shields to protect him, blood flowed from the wound and the corner of his mouth as he grinned and collapsed to the ground face first. Motionless.

The Master Chief heard their call sign and looked down just in time to see Sean collapse. 'Crap!' He thought to himself as Brutus raised the hammer. 'I'm not going to make it.' He said as he leveled his rifle.

"A poor excuse for your kind." Brutus said as he raised his hammer above the fallen Spartan.

"Do it." He heard Truth say into his ear as he tightened his grip and brought it down, only to slam into another energy sword. "What?!" Brutus exclaimed in disbelief.

There the Arbiter stood defiantly, holding the hammer between the sword's twin energy beams. "I refuse to let you kill another soul." He said as he threw him back with all his strength. Brutus went into the air a few centimeters as he skidded to a halt three meters away. "You elite piece of trash." Brutus mumbled as he pressed a button on his armor and dozens of jetpack brutes came up from the bottom and pointed their plasma rifles at the Arbiter. "This ends here."

"I beg to differ." The Arbiter smiled as a sniper bullet put a hole in one of the brutes head. In the next few seconds of confusion five more brutes fell from sniper bullets and two others succumb to a hail of bullets. The Arbiter picked up the motionless Spartan and ran back up the mountain and jumped out of sight as a rain of grenades befell the area, and six more brutes were blown to bits. "SPARTANS! OPEN FIRE!" John yelled as he popped up from a small hiding spot and began firing with his battle rifle. His fellow Spartans; James, Linda, Kelly, Will, and Fred; all opened fire on the brute's position. Brutus snuck away as he saw his team fight back, but being on the wrong end of a high ground situation, they were stricken down.

---

Meanwhile, Shola was busy watching over Kate with his plasma pistol, protecting her while her leg healed. Which wasn't to say she couldn't handle a weapon, she still held an assault rifle aimed ready to fire at a moment's notice. They heard a loud thud outside as they immediately responded. "Stand down, it is I." The Arbiter said as he poked his head into the phantom, the lifeless body of Sean strung over his shoulders. "SEAN!" Kate shouted as she went to get up but felt immense pain in her leg and sat back down. The Arbiter placed the Spartan next to her as he lay there. She immediately propped his head up against the side of her good leg as she looked down at him. "No, no, no, no, you can't be dead, you just can't be!" She shouted at him and was given no response. She could feel tears forming as Shola walked over as well.

The Arbiter walked up the control area as he opened up a COM with _Corrupt Heart_. "Dr., are you there?" He asked as her image popped up on the screen with Rick in front of her.

"Dr. Halsey here, what is it Arbiter?" She asked him, sensing bad news was about to come up.

"We need a phantom down her to pick up one of your fallen children and an injured one." He replied, his voice grim.

"Wait a minute, you don't mean-?!"

"Dr. Halsey." Rick cut in. "I am using the phantom's systems to find the Spartans…..there are two on board. Kate has an entire leg broken and Sean….."

"I'm afraid I do not know if he is alive or not, he has given no response to anything we say, but we've managed to seal his wound." The Arbiter said as he looked back at the door, imagining what pain both Sean and Kate must be suffering right now.

"I can have an automated phantom planet side in ten minutes." Rick said as it looked like even the AI was about to cry….if that was at all possible. His hologram then vanished.

"Arbiter, I need you to put him in the medical Cryo pod on the double, if he is gravely injured I can't risk it getting worse."

"Yes Dr., I shall do so post haste." The Arbiter said as the screen went blank. He immediately walked back into the back of the phantom as he picked up Sean's body once more. "I must put him into Cryo sleep if he is to live." He told Kate as she silently nodded at him and hung her head in grief. He placed the body in the Cryo pod that was put there in case of emergencies like this and sealed it. He then reactivated his sword and rushed back out to the fight.

While this was happening, it became a game of hide-and-seek as the Spartans tried to find Brutus. They had decided to spread out to cover more ground and hoped to end this today. Master Chief had gone down the mountain to the grass below as he swept the area with his assault rifle. There, on his motion tracker, something moved in the forest ahead. He ran in and then searched the area thoroughly, looking for the source of movement. He felt like something was wrong, like this was a bad idea; all of this was put on hold. "Chief! Behind you!" Cortana shouted and no sooner had the Master Chief jumped away, a gravity hammer slammed down where he previously was as a small crater formed.

"Curse you and every other like you." Brutus said as he removed the hammer from the indent he had made. "You may have defeated my squad, but I am no push over. This ends now for you Demon."

"In my eyes it's just beginning." Chief said as he opened fire. Brutus felt his shields take the force as he charged head long at the Spartan. Chief narrowly dodged the ensuing swing as he dropped a grenade before leaving. Brutus kicked it away just in time as it punched a hole clean through a tree nearby. John opened fire again and soon saw his ammo counter hit zero. He hastily popped the clip out and then slid a fresh one in as he moved backward, trying to get away from the charging brute. He opened fire just before a hammer hit in between them, causing him to go flying backwards and land hard on his back, his hand resting on something. He looked to his side and noticed it was Sean's sword handle and dropped his rifle for it. He looked up just as Brutus stood above him, his hammer coming down. "DIE DEMON!"

Everything was quiet, except for the hum of energy swords. The hammer was mere centimeters from Chief's face as not one, but two swords stuck through Brutus, both piercing his heart. He coughed up blood as he looked down to see the Spartan's armored arm holding the first sword, and looked back to see the Arbiter holding the second. "Damn….you….both." He muttered as his head drooped and he died. John rolled out from underneath as the Arbiter removed his sword and let the body fall. "It's finally over." The Arbiter said with a sigh of relief.

"It came with a price." John replied coldly as he remembered seeing Sean sacrifice himself for all of them.

"John, there was nothing you could do." Cortana said trying to consol the Spartan. "He gave his life not because he wanted to, but because he wanted you all to get out of here alive."

"Yea….but he broke his own promise." Chief said as he remembered the day after destroying hundreds of Covenant ships, and the sacrifice by Admiral Whitcomb and Lieutenant Haverson.


	11. The Promise

**2200 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 13, 2552 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD UNSC VESSEL **_**GETTYSBURG**_**, EN ROUTE TO EARTH VIA RANDOMIZED SLIPSPACE VECTOR \ AFTER DESTRUCTION OF **_**UNYIELDING HIEROPHANT**_

There they sat; John, Fred, Linda, and Will; the surviving members of Blue team and few of the remaining Spartans. Having destroyed most of the Covenant fleet, they were all resting in the crew's quarters, remembering everything that happened in such little time. They then heard Cortana come over the COM. "Umm, Chief, we have a problem here, please come to the bridge ASAP." She told him. He got up and immediately ran to the elevator leading to the bridge. It rose until it reached the bridge and he stepped onto it, seeing on the one working screen what he least expected or wanted: A Covenant cruiser. "What do ya make of this Chief?" Sgt. Johnson asked him as he lit a cigar and took a small breath of it.

"What can we make of it? We just came out of slipspace to make another jump, and we have this thing here. We've got no weapons, little power, we're basically doomed." He said in anger at his defeat.

"Well, not exactly." Cortana interrupted. "They're trying to hail us now for some reason."

"Probably wanting to gloat in our faces before killing us, alien bastards." Johnson said in disgust.

"Fine, just do it." Master Chief said as he nearly jumped out of his MJOLNIR armor at what appeared on screen.

"Hi'ya John, long time no see." The Spartan said on screen said with a smile. "Thought you guys could use a lift back to Earth."

"S……Sean? But how?" Master Chief said in disbelief.

"Long story, I'll tell ya later. Now you want a tow or not?"

"All right, thanks for the help. Cortana, link up with their systems and-"

"No need John." Sean said cutting him off as a Spartan AI popped up on the pedestal in front of him.

"Rick?" John asked in disbelief.

"Yes Master Chief, it is a pleasure to see you again, though I wish it were under different circumstances." The AI replied as he jumped back a bit. "Oh, ugh, hey there Cortana. You still mad at me for-?"

"Yes Rick, I am still mad at you." Cortana replied sharply. "It wasn't funny then and it still isn't funny now. Just get this over with." She said at him angrily. Rick quickly nodded and disappeared as the cruiser moved towards them and positioned itself right. It then hooked itself up to the top of the _Gettysburg_ and the two ships locked into place. "Should I even ask about what happened between you two?" John asked her as he walked towards the elevator to go meet them.

"You don't need to know, it was a juvenile joke and I beat his virtual ass up over it before giving him a virus for a week." She said angrily remembering the joke. What had happened was a while back, Rick had slipped an undetectable virus into Cortana's systems designed to look like a normal routine check. When she appeared in her holographic form again before Dr. Halsey, her normal outfit of code had been replaced by what looked like to be underwear. A juvenile joke that got him beat up by Cortana mercilessly and gave him a virus that took him an entire week to remove.

As John and Sgt. Johnson arrived at the bottom of the elevator, the rest of the Spartans were there waiting. "What's going on Chief?" Fred asked him.

"An old friend just showed up." He said as he led them down the hall and towards the area where the two ships were connected. As they made it to the hatch, a ladder had already been dropped down for them. As everyone got up, they drew their weapons and saw engineers everywhere. "Leave 'em." John said as he lowered his weapon.

"So, where's this 'old friend' at anyways Chief?" Will asked a bit annoyed to find only aliens.

"Keep your armor on Spartan; I'm sure he's waiting for us on the deck." Johnson said reassuringly to the annoyed Spartan. Per what he said, they reported to the bridge and were shocked to find not one Spartan, but three. "Welcome aboard John." Sean said as he turned around and nearly jumped. "Wait a minute, Fred, Will, Linda? You too?" He asked as he didn't expect this.

"We're just as surprised to see you." Linda replied as she looked over at the other two Spartans. "So, who's with you?"

"I am for one." James said as he removed his helmet and Linda and John nearly fainted.

"But, but, but….you died!" Linda yelled in disbelief.

"Almost, these guys came by in a pelican and gave me a lift; I only had a minute or so of air left." He said remembering his near-death experience. "And as for our other Spartan…" He said gesturing to the armored soldier on the other side of Sean as she removed her helmet.

"Hey guys!" Kate said with her usually bright smile on her face. "Good to see you all again!"

"Good to see you too, Kate." Fred said as he surveyed the bridge and noticed they were going to slipspace again. "I take it we're going to Earth."

"That would be correct." Rick said as he popped up behind Sean and greeted everyone. "I managed to plot the fastest way back to Earth from our current position." He said as Cortana appeared next to him.

"You mean I uploaded them to your navigation computer." She said as she punched him in the back of the head.

"Yea, sorry to have upset you Cortana." He said sarcastically as he rubbed the back of his helmet.

"That's enough Rick." Sean said as he looked at them.

"Cortana, you too." Master Chief chimed in.

"Yes sirs." They replied in unison like two kids who had just been caught.

"So John, I heard that Admiral Whitcomb escaped with you on Reach, where is he?" Sean asked as the Chief hung his head.

"He…..sacrificed himself," Master Chief began as Sean's face bore a grim expression. "He took out at least four hundred ships and crippled dozens of others when the station went off. He died a hero."

"There's too damn many of them." Sean said coldly. "This war has cost us way too many people, too many good men and woman. I mean, look at what happened on Reach, we lost nearly every Spartan back there. Kate and I probably would be dead as well if we hadn't arrived late. I'm sick of this war, sick of all the fighting; this is all Truth's fault." He said as he walked to the screen and stared out into the blackness of slipspace.

"Just who the hell is Truth?" Linda asked him confused.

"He's one of the prophets." Kate replied.

"Yea, almost caught the bastard too, but we were overwhelmed and forced to fall back." James told them. "He fled to some place known as _High Charity_."

"Chief, just make me this promise." Sean said as he turned to face him. "Just promise me that none of you guys are going to sacrifice yourselves for this war. I want all of us to see this through and be there for when we can finally relax."

"……I promise." John said.

"Thank you sir." Sean said as he saluted and left the bridge for the hangar.

"Don't mind him; he's been a bit on edge after the Truth mission." Kate told them. "The reason he asked you that John, was because James and I almost died getting to Truth."

"Sean had the chance to grab him, but he ran back to get us, said that he didn't want anyone to be a hero just for him to get to be a hero." James told them as Johnson smiled.

"May not be the best person to get a job done," Johnson said, "but he's definitely someone I'd want watching my back."

***

"So, where the hell's the phantom?" Fred asked as he stood on the LZ with everyone else around him.

"We had to send it back to the ship; your brother's condition wasn't reassuring." The Arbiter told them as a dot appeared on the horizon and got larger. "Though, we did send for an automated one." The phantom came to a halt as it hovered above them and the bottom hatch opened up and everyone got on board.

"Chief, take us home." Will said as John got in the pilot's seat and took off.

**1923 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 16, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD CAPTURED COVENANT VESSEL **_**CORRUPT HEART**_** \ MEDICAL BAY 3**

Automated claws gently set the pod down on the table and moved away as Dr. Halsey approached it and looked through the frosty glass to see Sean lying there, grinning even in death. Or at least he would be if they hadn't frozen him. She ran around getting the necessary tools and equipment to treat his wounds and stabilize his condition from getting worse. Beside the table Kate sat with her left leg's armor removed and placed in a cast after she was given injections to speed the process up.

She looked over through teary eyes at the pod, whishing that he was just fine, that he would sit up from there any moment and ease her mind, but that wasn't going to happen. Shola was sitting down in a chair, fiddling around with his hands as he watched the Dr. move and prepare. He was proud of himself at the moment, happy that he had the courage to lead his race along the path of the Elites and separate from the Covenant, and now with their leader gone, the Loyalists will never be as strong as they were before. "Rick, any change in your initial diagnosis?" Dr. Halsey asked him as he appeared beside the Cryo pod.

"No changes that are problematic Dr." He said as he looked over at the pod a bit worried. "I estimate that if you don't apply the correct medication within a minute of thawing him out that this will get one hundred times harder. I will……assist in any way that I can." A few medical arms began to grab their necessary scalpels, syringes, and other medical equipment as they prepared for the Spartan to become thawed. "I am ready on your go."

"Do it." Dr. Halsey said as the pod hissed open and the door swung back and out of the way. The arms immediately got to work, inserting the syringes into specific areas of his armor to give him the injections needed to keep him alive. Dr. Halsey got to work on removing his armor and piece by piece, his black body combat suit was all that was left. "20 seconds Dr." Rick told her as the syringes were swapped out. As she worked, the timer got smaller and smaller as she hurried her pace. Just as it hit five seconds, she injected the final serum as Rick informed her of the success. "OK, now that the easy part is done, let's get to work." And with that she began to operate on her fallen Spartan.

---

Meanwhile down in the hangar, The Spartans and Arbiter had made it into the now sealed hangar as they all hurried towards the medical wing. "Chief, I linked up with Rick and he said that Dr. Halsey isn't to be disturbed for fear of pressuring her or startling her into making a mistake."

"So what, we're just supposed to sit around and do nothing while Sean could very well die?!" John asked in outrage as Linda placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Relax, it'll be fine." She told him as he unclenched his fist. "Now let's just get some rest, it's been a long day and we're all on edge." With that the Spartans all left, leaving John alone with the Arbiter.

"Thanks, for coming back to get me." He told the Elite.

"I wouldn't just leave a friend to die out there." The Elite said as he patted John on the back and left. The Master Chief stood there as he tried to think about everything that happened in the short time he was brought back.

"So, what now Chief?" Cortana asked him.

"Report back to Lord Hood…….that's what we do now." He said as he walked to the bridge, slumped into the captain's chair, and drifted off to sleep as Cortana sifted through the Covenant cruiser until she arrived at the Medical Bay. "How's it looking?" She asked her fellow AI.

"I simply don't know." Rick replied as they both watched the Dr. operate while both Shola and Kate had fallen asleep.


	12. Peace at Last

**0850 HOURS, SEPTEMBER 17, 2553 (MILITARY CALENDAR) \ ABOARD ORBITAL STATION **_**CAIRO**_** IN STATIONARY ORBIT OVER EGYPT \ CONFERENCE ROOM**

There they all stood in a straight and even row, the Spartans who had shut down the Covenant Loyalist's operations and guaranteed there would be no return. They had all recovered physically, including Kate's leg due to the medication use to speed heal, but not so much emotionally. Among them was the Arbiter, and next to him stood Shola, freshly refilled with methane. In front of them stood Lord Hood. "I would like to congratulate you all on a job well done. You two especially." He said going over to the aliens. "Arbiter, Shola, you both have led your species to freedom from the ranks of the Covenant forces, and for that I congratulate and sincerely thank you both." He said as he presented a medal to them both.

"What more can I say about you Spartans that hasn't been said a hundred times already?" He asked as he walked over to them. "You all have shown bravery, valor, and duty in your campaign to protect humanity. While you may have suffered to get here, I doubt any of you have any regrets about how it turned out." He stopped as he reached the Master Chief at the end of the line. "May I see your report Chief?" He asked as it scrolled across his eyes through his implants. It stopped at casualties. "So I see." He said as he shook his head.

"I am deeply sorry for the loss of your fellow Spartan Chief, all of you, between Reach, and now this, it's a damn shame that so many of you lost your lives for this war." He said, his tone matching how he felt as Kate could be seen with her head hanging down. She looked down at her helmet as she could see Sean's face grinning back at her. Dr. Halsey then appeared as the doors parted to welcome her in. "Dr. Halsey, what can I do for you?" Hood asked her.

"One thing, correct that report." She said as another figure stood in the doorway. He was bandaged up around most of his body, using crutches to walk, and a massive scar across his chest, but he still smiled through it all. "Don't think you could get rid of me just by filing me under KIA guys." Everyone instantly warmed up as they saw their friend alive as Kate rushed over to him and hugged him tightly. "Kate, bones, broken, hug not helping." He struggled to say through lack of breath as she released him. "Thank y-" He tried to say as he found her lips pressed against his.

"Don't scare me like that again." She told him through tears as she embraced him again.

In the back of the room, both AIs looked on at the scene and smiled. "Isn't that nice Rick? I always enjoy a happy ending."


End file.
